A Tiger Cub's Horrifying Secret
by Animation Universe 2005
Summary: Musaki's new cousin Max's new life is threatened by something from his past and plans to protect him anyway he can. May contain mentions of child molestation. Enjoy!
1. New Life Threatened

This came out of me since September and I decided to let you guys get to know Musaki's new cousin Max. You might remember him from 'Dark Side of the Moon' and his past might be something serious. And this came up for me and I decided to release this. Dedicated to my awesome friends: Spade-Omega 7, son of wind, Joe 'Po' Navark, Tan-Tan Tanuki, seylenagomez, Kung Fu Panda MasterCheesecake Serenity in Virginia, Shadow Wolf Boy and many others. This is for you guys.

Warning: might involve mentioning of child molestation.

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><p>A Tiger Cub's Horrifying Secret<p>

by: Terrell James

Chapter 1: New Life Threatened

It was a peaceful day in the Valley of Peace and in Mako's house, it became more peaceful and also amazing too. Five young cubs were running around outside, just having some fun. One young white and grey striped tiger ran across from the ground chasing after 4 of his brothers and he pounced on all of them and started laughing.

"I gotcha!" he exclaimed.

The young mountain lion stood up and tried to break free from his brothers and said, "I had you first, Max!"

Max chuckled and said, "Yeah, right! I brought you guys down, Bang!"

Bang rolled his eyes and said, "Cheater!"

"Who you calling a cheater, cheater?"

"Oh, that's mature!"

Then, Crash, Logan and Taw Kwon Do got up and Crash heard them argue and said, "Break it up, guys."

"You guys always argue over something stupid." Logan added.

"We're brothers. Is there any other reason?" asked Crash.

Suddenly, their adopted father came outside to find out what's the ruckus and asked, "Okay, what's going on here?"

"Max cheated!" Crash pointed at him.

Max rolled his eyes and he said, "You should've got in the way before I pounced you!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

'Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did...not!"

"Did...too!"

"All right, enough. Max, were you cheating?" asked Mako.

"No. Not really. Crash wasn't supposed to be in the way. He should've dodged."

"Hold up, what do you mean by that?" asked Crash.

"Predators are easy to pounce and the prey are supposed to run away after they get caught. Tiger's instinct."

"Are you sure it didn't involve being a competitive amateur?"

Crash and Max kept arguing for a minute until Samurai came out and said, "Guys!"

"WHAT?" they shouted.

"Can you guys like not scream at each other for five minutes? Besides, Musaki's here."

Everyone immediately ran back to the house and sees Musaki standing there and they gave him a huge hug and Crash asked, "How ya doing, cuz?"

"Pretty good." Musaki replied.

"Hey, Musaki!" Max shouted, joyfully.

"What's up, Maxie?"

Tae Kwon Do snickered at the name, which gave Max a squinting glare at him to stop and he focused of Musaki and asked, "So, what are you doing here?"

"Just came by to visit you and see how you're living life with my cousins."

"Well, it's the best experience ever. More so than being at the orphanage, to be honest."

"I'm with ya there."

"Crash and Max are at each other's throats again." Samurai added.

"What is it this time?" asked Musaki.

"Crash couldn't get out of the way when I pounced him." Max answered.

"I didn't have to."

Musaki rolled his eyes and shook his head and said, "Sounds like me and Tigress..only much more ridiculous."

"I bet."

"Hey, nephew!"

Musaki looks up and sees his uncle Mako coming in and he gave him a huge hug and Mako asked, "How's my kung-fu nephew?"

"Doing well, actually."

"That's brilliant. Listen, can you do me a huge favor?"

"What's that?"

"See, I have to bring in two more kids from eastern China and I've grown attached to them and I was kinda wondering that if Max can stay with you for a while. He's kinda scared to be left alone because he's afraid that someone might come in and harm him and you know how he is with strangers."

"How long will you be gone?"

"Me and the kids would be gone for...2 weeks."

"2 weeks?"

"Yeah, absoultely."

As Mako and Musaki were talking, Max was standing outside in the door, just feeling like he's at peace with his new life and like everything seemed to be going great for him.

He sighed happily as he sat across the steps, looking at most of the Valley like it's the one place he definitely belongs.

Then, he seeks out someone coming this way wearing a dark black hoodie and he seemed a little nervous about who it was and then, it said, "Max..."

Max didn't know what to make of it and he was a little frightened that the stranger knew his name and he asked, "How'd you know my name?"

Suddenly, the hooded figure took off the hoodie and unveiled a face. Max dropped his mouth in shock as he became familiar with those eyes and the horror sunk in him and he whispered, "Mom?"

"That's right."

"What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I came to bring you back!"

Suddenly, he can recognize that look she made and he backed away from her and said, "Go away, please. I'm living my new life with my new family now."

She grabbed him by the arm and squeezed it hard, making Max scream in pain and she covered his mouth so no one could hear him and she said, angrily, "New family? Have you forgotten about me?"

Max started whimpering in pain as his mother throws him down on the ground and she grabbed his tail, which made him really scared and he screamed loudly; which caught most of his cousins' attention and saw him being pummeled by some stranger.

"What are you doing?" asked Mako.

"Mind your business, old man!" the female tiger snarled.

"Who the heck are you?"

"What does it look like? I'm his mother!"

Everyone gasped in shock and they all asked, "Mother?"

"Yes! I came to get him back!"

"Please let me go!" max said, crying.

His mother kicks him in the butt and slaps him as well and said, "Shut up!"

"Hey, that is not appropriate for him!" Mako yelled.

"So what? I can do whatever the heck I want with him, even if it means grabbing his tail and me licking it!"

"Ewww! That's gross!" Crash shouted.

"You'd do that?" asked Musaki.

"I have...when he was a cub!"

"You're sick."

She let go of Max and said, "I'll be back. And once I do, he will be all mine!"

When she left, everyone grew really disgusted by Max's mother's behavior and also concerned for Max for being a victim of such abuse. Max started crying as he went back to the room and they didn't know what to make of it.

Musaki looked at Mako and asked, "Why did she do this?"

"I never actually knew how bad his past was when he told me the first time." Mako answered.

Musaki didn't really know anything about that and wanted to find out what's the deal with him. As soon as he came into Max's room, he was just crying on his bed and Musaki felt really sorry for him as he sat down next to him and asked, "You okay?"

Max slowly looks at Musaki with tears in his eyes and Musaki could tell that there was a lot of pain, shame and anguish on his cousin's eyes and he reached out for a hug and Max said, "I don't want her to come back...not after what she did to me."

"What did she do to you?"

Max sighed and said, "I can't tell you."

"Come on, cuz. You can tell me. You can tell me anything."

He knew that this would be a difficult topic to talk about, but he knows that he can trust Musaki with anything and he said, "My mom...she used to molest me when I was a cub."

Musaki's jaw dropped and asked, "She what?"

"I don't know why she would do that to me. She'd put her tail on my legs and other parts of my body and then, she would touch me in places that are somewhat untouched and would harass me. She would tell me I'm ugly, stupid, miserable excuse for a son and that I would never amount to anything. And she would beat me up and blood would come out of paw, arm, leg, foot and sometimes my head. And she would try to kill me."

Musaki could not believe that Max's mom would do that to him and he felt angry at his mother for being a such a horrible mother to Max and the way he was treating him.

Max then broke down crying into Musaki's arms and in his shoulders and said, "I would get nightmares every night that she would come back for me and hurt me again."

He hugged him tightly and Musaki just held him and he looked at the other side of the door and sees Mako standing there. He walks over to him and said, "I kinda heard the whole thing. Max hasn't told me anything like that before."

"I was too scared." Max said, in between tears.

"Well, don't worry. She won't be able to find you because you'll be with Musaki for 2 weeks."

"Huh?"

"Me, your brothers and sisters are gonna go out of town to bring in new kids here and you'll be staying with Musaki at the Jade Palace."

Max looked at Musaki and he smiled at him and Musaki told him, "You'll be safe with me there. I promise."

"Okay."

Musaki pats Max in the head as he left the room and then, Cody, Samurai, Phoenix and Tsunami came in with growing concern for Max and Cody said, "I know you'll take good care of him, Musaki."

"Yeah. It's just...I've never heard of some situations like that before and I worry for Max." Musaki added.

"So do we. But I know he'll be in good hands with him. We know we can trust you." Phoenix added.

"Thanks, guys."

Hours later, the rest of the clan went out of the house and said their farewells to Max and Musaki and as they left, Max felt really scared that his bio mother would come to grab him away and Musaki saw that fear in him and he said, "Don't worry. You're with me. Plus, you get to come to the Jade Palace."

"I guess it's okay."

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><p>Do I know how to kick off drama or what? And this is just the beginning! Stay tuned for more!<p> 


	2. Fear of Tigress

You might be surprised that since Max is a tiger and his bio mom is a tiger, he explains his phobia...of his own kind. One example...

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><p>Chapter 2: Fear of Tigress<p>

Later on, Musaki took Max over to the Jade Palace and he asked, "You ever been there before?"

"No." Max replied.

As soon as they arrived, Max looked up at the stairs and saw how high it was to get in there. He gulped nervously and asked, "We have to walk all these stairs?"

"Yep. They call it the Thousand Steps. If anything, it looks like a million steps." Musaki added.

"Who made these?"

"Master Oogway."

"Wow..."

They walked across the steps and as they got to the middle of them, Max started to become very tired just from walking. He panted heavily and slowed down a little bit. Musaki stops and asked Max to climb on his back and carried him all the way up.

As soon as they got there, Max looked at the entire place and his eyes widened by how huge it was. He said, "I imagined that this place was big, but not like this."

"Well, it gets bigger than that."

Soon enough before they reached the bunkhouse, they saw Arizona, Kazuo, Shing, Ruiz and his brother Zeke came over and they saw Musaki with Max and they greeted them as they came by. Max said hi to them and Zeke asked, "What brings you here?"

"He's staying with me for 2 weeks." Musaki answered.

"Wow, really? Where's everyone else?"

"They're out of town looking for more kids to adopt."

"How many kids can uncle Mako adopt?"

"I don't know, Zeke."

"So, how you been doing, Max?" asked Arizona.

"Doing fine, I guess." Max replied, sadly.

"What's wrong?" asked Ruiz.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

Max walks away with his head hanging down, which concerned most of them and Kazuo asked, "What's wrong with him?"

Musaki sighed heavily and said, "This is gonna be a long story."

Max was walking towards the training hall, hoping to get some alone time and when he went inside, he looks in wonder as he saw how huge it was. He walked around parts of it and he's never seen anything like this before. Several minutes in, he hears someone punching and kicking in there and to his surprise, he saw Tigress.

She was punching the adversary way harder, which kinda made him nervous and when he looked at her, his nervousness went into full-mode fear because he reminds her of his mom. Then, the severe sound of the punch made him quiver and he slowly backed away and as he got to the stairs, a creak sound came out of nowhere; which caught her attention.

Max quickly hid under the steps leaving Tigress to look around to see where that noise came from. She thought there might be intruders or maybe Po playing a joke on her. She walks around the training hall to solve this little mystery and as she was looking, Max was in constant fear of getting caught because he remembered being beaten by his own kind when he was younger; which triggered the fear of his own species.

Suddenly, Max let out a sneeze and that caught Tigress' attention as well. He tried to hide where he couldn't be seen and when Tigress went under the stairs, she tried to look for the stranger figure and not long as she stuck her head under the stairs, she got clawed in the face. She started screaming and covering her face, hoping that there was no blood and while she wasn't looking, Max quickly got behind her and bit her tail, making her scream louder and then he kicked her from behind and quickly running out of the room.

Tigress got up and she saw the door starting to close and she got really mad and was determined to find this person and make him pay.

Max ran faster and faster, hoping that Tigress isn't behind him and when he came into the bunkhouse, he saw Musaki walking towards the hallway and when he turned around, Max jumped on top of him, making Musaki fall down to the ground.

Max was panting heavily and Musaki said, "Max, you okay?"

"This...monster...tried to...tried to come ater me." Max replied, panting.

"Who?"

"She's after me! She's after me!"

"Who's after you?"

"MUSAKI!"

Max screamed in fear and ran off to Musaki's room to hide and Musaki didn't even know what was going on. Not long, he saw Tigress looking ticked off with a scratch on her face.

"Whoa...what happened to you, claw yourself?" asked Musaki.

"Not funny! Who did this to my face?"

Musaki grew confused about this and he responded, "I have no idea."

"Did you see what this person did to me?"

"I wasn't there, so how should I know?"

Tigress growled at him and said, "When I find the person that did this, I will brutally hurt him!"

"Calm down, okay? Just tell me what happened."

"I was training and I heard someone come in and I didn't know who it was and then, someone sneezed and when I went under the stairs, someone clawed my face, bit my tail and kicked me from behind. I didn't see who it was, but I saw the door close and that might be someone playing a trick on me."

"That's all?"

"Yes, that's all!"

"I get the idea now."

"I wanna find this person right now and hurt him bad!"

"Okay, I'm not sure if I can help you with this, but if I hear anything about it, I'll let you know."

"You better."

She walks away angry, but not before Musaki said, "To be fair, at least you have your beauty mark."

She scoffed and kept walking and then, he went over to his room and saw Max curled up in a corner, whimpering. Max asked in fear, "Is she gone?"

"Who?"

"The monster."

He quickly discovers that he was talking about Tigress and then, he said, "Yeah, she's gone. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I was walking to this big place and then, I saw her punching a dummy and when I looked at her, I see my mom in her and that made me want to step back and then, she heard me and I hid under the stairs, hoping she wouldn't find me. But when I saw her coming under it, I clawed her face, then I bit her tail and kicked her and I just ran. I didn't want to be hurt again."

The clues of the puzzle somewhat fit the answer of that situation and what Tigress was talking about. That's when he found out that it was Max that did it. He slowly turned to him and said, "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I'm...I'm scared of my own kind."

"Really?"

"Before I was at the orphanage, my mother would physically and verbally abuse me and molest me and my dad would just beat me and my brothers and sisters neglected me and when they do notice me, they want to hurt me. And I was left behind by some wolves one time and they wanted to hurt me by the demand of my mom, so I lived in fear all of my life."

Musaki felt sorry for Max because he's been through so much in his life, like it just became that bad. He puts his arm around him and said, "It wasn't your fault. You didn't have to deserve any of this."

"I know, but sometimes I ask myself, 'what did I do wrong' or 'why do they not want me or love me?'"

Musaki hugged Max tightly as Max started crying and he said, "it's gonna be okay. But you kinda have to tell Tigress what you did."

"I can't do that because she'll kill me."

"How do you know?"

"I don't know. I'm just afraid she will."

Musaki didn't really know what to do at this point and he knew that he would have to protect his cousin, but he didn't think he'd protect him from his own family. He told him, "You'll be safe here. I promised your brothers I'll take care of you and I will."

"And so will we."

They looked up and they see Arizona, Kazuo, Ruiz and Shing coming in the room, each reaching out to Max and giving him support while he's here.

"We won't let anything happen to you, we promise." Arizona added.

"Thank you guys." Max said, tearfully.

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><p>That idea popped out of my head since September and Max sees his abusive mom in Tigress, which adds to the fear. Later on, I'll put in when they'll actually meet and it's gonna be crazy!<p> 


	3. Coping

This is drama at its awesomeness.

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><p>Chapter 3: Coping<p>

Evening falls down on the Jade Palace and Musaki walks across the hallways of the barracks to check in on Max and when he got to the room, he sees Max lying down on the floor, feeling depressed.

Musaki comes in and asked, "You okay, Max?"

Max didn't say anything and only nodded his head in sorrow and Musaki could tell that he was haunted by those memories of being molested by his birth mom and he felt really bad for him and he said, "You hungry?"

He nodded his head slowly and his stomach was growling a little. Musaki chuckles softly and he knew he was hungry right from the start. As he walks out of the room, he began thinking about how Max will meet the Five, Shifu and Po because he knows that secrets can't be kept in the palace.

Musaki didn't know what to do at this point and how long will he keep them at bay for 2 weeks. Suddenly, Po walks in and he sees Musaki feeling troubled and asked, "You okay, Lil' Saki?"

Musaki looks up and sees Po in front of him and he replied, "Yeah."

"Something wrong?"

"Nah, nothing's wrong."

"Well...okay. Dinner's gonna be ready in a few."

"All right. I'll be there."

Musaki felt like he's gonna be in big trouble if he might sneak food to Max in the middle of dinner and that Shifu might find out. He managed to keep it all to himself and as he went in the kitchen, he saw a few bowls of soup coming in and lucky for him, there were 14 bowls of noodles and he was able to grab one and take it over to Max.

One he gave it to him, Max really looked forward to eating and he saw him eating the noodles and said, "I've never tasted anything like this before."

"Awesome, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. I'm off for dinner. I'll check on you soon, okay?"

"Okay."

At dinner, Musaki ate some of his noodles and he couldn't help but looking at Tigress' scratches on her face and snickered softly, which made Tigress snarl at him.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't help myself." Musaki said, snickering.

"You should be focusing more on who did this to my face!" she shouted.

"Hey, hey. Calm down, will ya?" Po asked.

"Yeah, it's not like anyone will find you attractive anyway."

Shifu glared at Musaki and said, "That's enough, Musaki."

Musaki kept his mouth shut and he said, "Sorry, master."

"So, who scratched your face, Tigress?" asked Crane.

"I don't know. I was busy training and then, someone out of the blue scratched me, bit my tail and kicked me from behind and left off. If I find this person, I would most likely use his face as a scratching post!"

Musaki knew that she might be talking about Max, but he didn't want anyone else to know that it was a kid that actually did it and he asked, "But..what if that person was a kid?"

Tigress looked at him and replied, "A kid?"

"Yeah, maybe a kid might've did it by accident...or because he might be scared."

She didn't say anything about it and kept eating. Musaki chuckled nervously and thought to himself, 'What am I getting myself into?'

"Not to worry, Tigress. When we find the person, he'll be sorry that he ever messed with you." Shifu assured.

Musaki definitely felt scared about this and he groaned in fear and dropped his head down on the table, which caught everyone's attention.

"Lil' Saki? You all right?" asked Mantis.

Musaki rose his head up from the table and replied, "Yeah, I'm cool."

Shifu suspected something in him and asked, "Are you hiding something, Musaki?"

Musaki knew that he had something that he's hiding from, but doesn't want to tell anyone about his new cousin and answered, "No, master. Nothing that I know of."

Shifu kept a suspicious face on him and answered, "Just wanted to know. If there is something you're hiding from, now's the time to tell us."

"There's nothing to say."

Musaki kept eating and Shifu had his eye on him and he kept eating as well and he knew that one of those days, Musaki will fess up, regarding what he's hiding from.

Later on, Musaki went in to check on Max and as he entered the room, it was empty. He didn't see Max anywhere. He was panicking, fearing that someone might've found him out already and he went around most of the hallway to find Max and he kept looking for him outside and as he got to the Sacred Peach tree, he heard someone singing up there.

_I open my eyes  
>I try to see but I'm blinded by the white light<br>I can't remember how  
>I can't remember why<br>I'm lying here tonight_

_And I can't stand the pain_  
><em>And I can't make it go away<em>  
><em>No I can't stand the pain<em>

_How could this happen to me_  
><em>I made my mistakes<em>  
><em>I've got no where to run<em>  
><em>The night goes on<em>  
><em>As I'm fading away<em>  
><em>I'm sick of this life<em>  
><em>I just wanna scream<em>  
><em>How could this happen to me<em>

Musaki could not believe that Max could sing like that and he was singing it out of pain. He felt a connection to it right away and he sung along with him.

_Everybody's screaming  
>I try to make a sound but no one hears me<br>I'm slipping off the edge  
>I'm hanging by a thread<br>I wanna start this over again_

_So I try to hold onto a time when nothing mattered_  
><em>And I can't explain what happened<em>  
><em>And I can't erase the things that I've done<em>  
><em>No I can't<em>

Then, they both started singing together.

_How could this happen to me  
>I made my mistakes<br>I've got no where to run  
>The night goes on<br>As I'm fading away  
>I'm sick of this life<br>I just wanna scream  
>How could this happen to me<em>

I made my mistakes  
>I've got no where to run<br>The night goes on  
>As I'm fading away<br>I'm sick of this life  
>I just wanna scream<br>How could this happen to me

When they stopped, Musaki looked at him with surprise and he said, "I didn't know you sung before."

"It's the only way that I could cope with for what my mom did to me and everything bad had happened to me." Max explained.

"I don't blame you. I used to do it too and I still do to this day."

Musaki sat next to him and Max said, "I'm sorry if I worried you. I just needed to get some air."

"It's okay. I was worried that someone might notice you while you were out."

Max laid his head down on Musaki's side and tears started falling down on his face and he started crying. Musaki hugged him tightly and he said, "Everything's gonna be okay. Just don't run off like that, okay?"

"Okay. Are you mad at me?"

"No. I'm not mad. I was just worried about you, that's all."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Just stay with me where you're going, okay?"

Max nodded his head and then, Musaki took him back to the room to get some rest. Though, he still doesn't know when he'll explain to the Five, Shifu and Po about Max and feared that they'll reject him. But when he looked at Max, he wanted to protect him as much as he could.

'What am I gonna do?' Musaki thought.

* * *

><p>Doesn't that make you feel sorry for Max? The song was 'Untitled' from Simple Plan. But it doesn't stop there. More moments from Max coming up.<p> 


	4. Adjusting

This sets two ways: Max's nightmare and how he's adjusting in the palace without the masters knowing. Warning: the nightmare sequence may contain...what else...molestation. Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: Adjusting<p>

Hours later at the bunkhouse, both Musaki and Max are sleeping (on one side) on the ground and Max started moaning on his sleep, tossing and turning, knowing that there's a nightmare looming in his head.

"No...Mom...What do you want from me?...No...no...no...no, please...leave me alone...I don't want this...

_Nightmare_

_Max was running from his birth mom, trying to escape her deadly claws and as much as he tried to run, she was gaining on him and she grabbed him by the tail, which made him fall down and got dragged on while he was screaming and trying to get away from her._

_"Stop fighting me, brat!" his mother shrieked._

_"Leave me alone!"_

_"I want you all to myself!"_

_She threw him down the ground and she went on top of him, trying to plant a kiss on his lips, but Max wanted to move out of the way and his mother was having it. She slapped him in the face and said, "You know you want it..."_

_Max knew he didn't want it as his mother touched his body, making Max cringe in fear and she attempted to rub his lower parts, but Max stood up and said, "Don't touch me."_

_She growled at him and she pushed him down the ground again and his mother puts her body on his back as she wrapped her tail around his legs and on his backside, making Max whimper in fear. She opened up her vest and he knew what was gonna happen next and he pushed her down on the ground and ran off._

_His mother was furious as she chased him off and Max stopped as he realized that there was nowhere left to go because of a huge cliff. He was shaking a little and didn't know where he would go._

_Unfortunately for him, his mother popped out, looking like she was ready to kill her own son. Max tried to get away from her, but she grabbed him by the ankle and threw him out of the cliff. Max was screaming in fear as he fell down and all his mother could do was just say, "Enjoy your death because you never deserve to live in the first place!"_

_Max kept screaming and screaming and screaming until..._

Back to reality

Max woke up, gasping and panting heavily. He looks around and sees that he's still in Musaki's room and Musaki's next to him. The nightmare became a scary moment for Max that he felt like he was still alone in the world, being haunted by the images of being molested by his birth mother.

He sighed heavily and he quietly stepped out of the room to get some air. As he walked towards the hallway, he saw one door half-open and it was Arizona, Kazuo, Shing and Ruiz's room. When he quietly opened the door, Arizona opened one eye and noticed Max coming in and he let out a small yawn and asked, "What are you doing here, Max?"

Max heard Arizona from behind and he looked at him and replied, "Couldn't sleep."

"Why don't you tell me about it?"

Max sat down on the floor next to Arizona and he said, "I had a nightmare."

Arizona immediately knew what he was talking about and he asked, "Is it about your mom?"

That subject was completely embedded into his head and Max shakily replied, "Yeah. It was...bad."

Arizona puts his hand on Max's shoulder and he said, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"Somehow...I feel like being molested was my fault, like I caused it to happen."

"Don't say that. It's not your fault. You shouldn't have been going through this. I understand you feel hurt and pain and all these feelings you have, but don't feel like no one cares about you. You just have to feel love...and it will find you, no matter what."

Arizona hugged Max tightly and he accepted that hug immediately as one lone tear fell down from his face. Max said, "Thank you."

Arizona smiled at him and said, "You're welcome. You know, I'm starting to think what it's like to be a big brother. It's the best feeling ever."

"Arizona...can I sleep with you tonight, if that's okay?"

"Sure."

Max laid down next to Arizona on his bed and Arizona saw him already falling asleep. He smiled softly, patted his head and whispered, "Good night...little brother."

The next morning comes and Musaki opened his eyes slowly and when he woke up, he realized that Max was not there. He quietly panicked again and thought, 'Please don't tell me I lost him again.'

He got up, left the room and tried to find Max. He knew he wouldn't be in some of the Five's rooms, nor Shifu's or Po's and when he passed by Arizona's room, he could see the door cracked open and as soon as he came in, he saw Max with Arizona and Musaki started to smile and whispered, "Thanks, Zona."

He patted Max's head silently as he went out of the room and proceeded to do some yoga in peace.

Hours have passed by and Max was still asleep in Arizona's bed and when he woke up, he realized that he was the only one there. He got up out of the bed, walked towards the hallway, but not before seeing Arizona walk one way there and he greeted Max immediately.

"Hey, sleep well?" asked Arizona.

"Yeah, I guess. Where is everyone?" asked Max.

"Everyone's doing some training and stuff."

"Oh, okay."

"So...are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks for letting me sleep with you."

Arizona smiled and said, "Hey, if you had nobody there, I'd be here for you no matter what."

"Where's Musaki?"

"With the others. Sorry I didn't wake you up though. But I felt like I wanted to let you sleep in."

"Thanks."

Later that morning, Musaki and Arizona were the only ones in the training hall, sparring with each other by Shifu's supervision and they started punching, kicking and everything else in between. Arizona did some backflips, frontflips, swings and twirls with a kung-fu move. Musaki did the same, only he held his own with his anti-gravity lean move.

Both of them went around and battled each other, showing off their massive moves. Musaki pushed him down and Arizona went around and swing him quickly, but missed and they did some astronomical moves and Musaki did a backflip while Arizona tried to knock him down and he landed on his feet.

Musaki swung his feet and Arizona jumped on top of him, but Musaki did the splits already and Arizona landed on his feet and Musaki stood up and let out a smirk and said, "You still have a lot to learn."

"As if." Arizona scoffed.

Both of them continued to spar with each other and fought for several minutes until Shifu snapped his fingers to stop. Both of them panted heavily and Shifu said, "Excellent work, students. Arizona...you should learn a lot from Musaki. You still have a long way to go, but you're doing just fine."

"Thanks, Shifu." Musaki and Arizona said.

Shifu left the room and Musaki followed him as well and he turned to Arizona and asked, "You coming?"

"I'll catch up with you later." Arizona answered.

Musaki smiled a little as he left the room leaving Arizona alone to do some more exercising and punching the dummy as hard as he can. Minutes later, Max comes in the training hall and he sees Arizona doing some moves as he was hitting the dummy.

Suddenly, Arizona looks over and sees Max standing there and he asked, "What you doing here?"

"I was bored. How do you do that?"

"Kung-fu? I can teach you a few things."

Minutes later, Arizona showed Max a few moves of his own and Max seemed a little nervous about it and he tries to do a few, but all it ended up was falling on his tail.

"Well, it's a good start. You just need to let your entire body gain some exercise and try not to think too much. Watch me, okay?"

Arizona takes a deep breath and did some flips, kicks, swings, spins, twirls and everything else in between. He then lets Max have a turn and all he could do was kicks, swings and spins. He then jumps up in the air and grabs a hold of the ceiling, falls down and lands on his feet.

That made Arizona's jaw drop and already he's learning. He chuckled and said, "Not even 5 minutes and you got it down to a science."

"I kinda learned from my brothers." Max added.

"Okay. That's cool. Now...spar me."

"Spar you?"

"Yeah, let's test your fighting abilities."

Max seemed reluctant about it, but he seemed like he's eager to learn from Arizona and he began on his stance and started sparring with him and Arizona seemed surprised that he's getting the hang of it. He pounced on him and then, struck him as they punched, kicked, swung and flipped across and Arizona turns around and he sees no trace of Max anywhere.

Arizona was unaware that Max was hiding to wait for his minute to strike and he quietly crawls on the floor and then, he quickly pounced on his back and Arizona fell down on the ground.

Arizona looked at him and asked, "You pounced me?"

"Yeah. I have to wait until someone tries to find me and that would be the minute I can pounce like I'm hunting enemies."

"Awesome..."

"It's like I'm searching for my target."

"I'm already learning a few things from you."

"So do you."

Arizona smiled a little and said, "I taught you well...for a short amount of time. I think you're up for kung-fu."

They walked off the training hall together and Max felt like Arizona looks up to him as his big brother.

For the next 2 days, Musaki and Arizona mentored Max in doing kung-fu training while the others weren't around and Max immediately learned a few things from both Musaki and Arizona and when it came to sparring Musaki, Max did extremely well and Musaki could not believe that he actually went for it.

Musaki looked at him and said, "Someone here is ready for kung-fu."

"Yeah, I'm somewhat of a fast learner."

"I can see that."

Later on, Max hung around with Arizona, Musaki, Zeke, Shing, Ruiz and Kazuo at the Sacred Peach Tree, just talking and laughing and stuff like that. Musaki said, "Hey, Max. You know we haven't introduced you to Shifu and the rest of them yet. Don't you think it's time?"

Max knew that question was coming and he said, "I don't know. I don't know if I can...because of Tigress."

"Hey, it was an accident. Besides, she's on my back finding the person who scratched her face. You have to tell her one of these days."

"I can't."

"Why can't you?" asked Zeke.

"because...she might kill me. My mom has already brought me harm and I don't want another one who's the same species as me to do the same thing to me."

Max seemed a little sad about it and Arizona told him, "Tigress is different. Sure, she might be a little bit...hardcore and somewhat kinda...has anger issues, but underneath it, she has a soft side. She just rarely shows it."

"I'm sure if you told her, it'll be easy on you." Shing added.

"But she might not forgive me." Max said.

"She will. She'll never hurt you."

"I understand you're scared, but sometimes you have to do things that you never would do. It's just part of life." Ruiz added.

Max really thought about this and he still wasn't sure about it and he just sat there in silence. Musaki puts his hand on his shoulder and said, "You're not alone. You've got us and we will lay down our lives for you."

He hugged him deeply and the others joined in as well. Max felt like he had a sense of security around him and that made him feel like everything will be okay.

* * *

><p>Arizona's like a big brother to Max, isn't he? Well, the wait for the kung-fu masters discovering Max is almost over! Wonder how Max and the rest will react? Find out on the next chapter!<p> 


	5. Max is Discovered

And Max is discovered!

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: Max is Discovered<p>

Later that night, Musaki and Max were sleeping and then, Max's stomach started growling which woke Musaki up a little. He groaned sleepily and asked, "Was that you?"

"Yeah, I'm so hungry." Max said, sluggishly.

"Go get a snack. Just make sure no one catches you."

"Okay."

Max got up, went out of the room and he quietly walked through the hallway and into the kitchen to get something to eat. He looks around and he sees a cookie jar on top of the shelf and he started climbing through the cupboards, hoping he won't fall and once he got there, he sat down and opened up the lid and sees some almond cookies there.

He took only three pieces of it and started eating them. He never tasted anything like that before and with the last two pieces eaten, he felt like he's good for now. He then climbed down, but he slipped and fell down to the ground hard.

He was hoping no one heard him fall and he gets up, groaning. He takes a deep breath and proceeded to walk back to Musaki's room, but he heard someone coming and he started to panic. He didn't know where he can hide, so he he hid under the table, hoping he wouldn't be found.

And to his shock, the sight of orange feet came in the kitchen and that's when he knew that it was Tigress. He started shaking in fear, knowing that if he ever gets caught, she would harm him because he was the one that scratched her face the first time.

While she was looking, Max quietly tried to escape, but he made a creak which caught Tigress' attention and he quickly hid under the pantry, hoping that she wouldn't catch him.

Tigress was searching through every part of the kitchen to find who's there while Max is hiding and shaking inside of the pantry, in which one item falls down out of there and rolls on the floor that touched Tigress' foot.

She looked down and sees a can of soup on the floor and she picks it up and she immediately knew someone was in there. And then, she quickly opens the doors of the pantry and saw Max for the first time.

Max looked at her in fear and started screaming loudly and without warning, he clawed her again and pushed her down hard on the floor and ran out of the kitchen screaming.

"MUSAAAAAAKIIIIIIIIIIII! She's after me! The monster's after me!"

Max quickly ran towards the hall, but not before multiple doors opened quickly and that intensified the scare and once they came out, Max screamed louder, thinking that they might be after him and when they came closer, he went towards the wall, covering himself into a little ball.

When one touched him, Max scratched them fierce-like and continued screaming louder.

"MUSAKI! HELP ME!"

Suddenly, Musaki comes out of the room and exclaimed, "Max, are you okay?"

Max sees Musaki come out and he quickly jumped into his arms, crying hysterically and said, "Musaki, it was so scary! I tried to go back but this monster found me and I ran and then some others were trying to get me!"

Musaki looks up and sees Po and the others standing in front of him and he felt like this is gonna be bad. Po was the first one to say something.

"I heard someone scream and it woke me up. I wanted to find out what it was." Po explained.

Viper stared at Max with a worried look and asked Musaki, "Who's he?"

Musaki knew this was coming and he took a deep breath and said, "This is my cousin...Max."

"Aw, he looks so cute."

"Where did he come from?" asked Monkey.

"He's been staying with me for 2 days."

That surprised everyone and they exclaimed, "2 days?"

"Why didn't you introduce us to him then?" asked Mantis.

"Max is scared to because he thinks you guys are strangers and he's scared of strangers or anyone that he thinks is gonna harm him."

Suddenly, Shifu comes out of nowhere, looking really ticked and he overheard the conversation and the screaming and he looks at Musaki and asked, "Did you hide him from us?"

"Well...yeah."

Then, Tigress angrily ran across and shrieked, "WHERE IS HE?"

Max screamed loudly and hid behind Musaki, hoping she wouldn't see him, but of course Tigress already saw him and she wanted to hurt him, but Musaki tried to stop her.

"Now..Tigress...he didn't know what he was doing. You might've scared him."

"I'LL KILL HIM!"

"He's just a kid!"

Tigress stopped short and realized that it was just a kid and Shifu told her, "Tigress...calm yourself."

She was still angry at Musaki for hiding him without anyone knowing about it and Crane asked him, "He's one of your cousins?"

"Yes."

"What's his name?"

"Max."

"Musaki...why did you hide him from us?" asked Shifu, angrily.

"I told him to, but with Tigress around, he's too scared to show himself to any of you guys. I know you would do him no harm, but that's what he thought...especially to Tigress. He was the one that scratched her, bit her tail and pushed her from behind 2 days ago."

"So...you knew it was him and didn't even tell me?" asked Tigress.

"Yeah, pretty much. I was just trying to protect him."

Shifu pretty much knew where this was going and he said, "We will talk about this in the morning. Back to bed, all of you."

The masters went back to bed and Shifu stared at Musaki and Max and he said, "You know that we don't keep secrets from anyone here."

Musaki sighed heavily and said, "I know, master."

He walks out and Max looked at him and asked, "Are we in trouble?"

"A little bit."

* * *

><p>Wonder how that will go? Find out next!<p> 


	6. Explaining

We left you with Max being discovered by the kung-fu masters. Now Max tells all.

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Explaining<p>

The next morning comes and Max was nervous about what had happened last night and wasn't really looking forward to face Master Shifu and the rest of them and Musaki woke up and sees Max in a corner and asked, "You okay?"

"No."

"Nervous about what's gonna happen this morning?"

"Yeah."

Musaki understood his nervousness and said, "Listen, I think it's better if you told them everything that had happened...especially with your mom."

"I can't do that because it's just too painful."

"I understand it's a hard subject to talk about, but not saying anything will only make you more miserable. They might help you."

"How can they help me? They don't even like me."

"You don't know that. Listen, I wouldn't let anything happen to you and these are good people. Besides, they're the ultimate kung-fu masters in all of China. And don't worry, I'll be right here with you."

Max looks at Musaki and knows that he's the one person he'll trust and Musaki lends out his hand and Max grabbed it and they walked to the door and Musaki asked, "Ready?"

"Yeah." Max replied.

As the morning gong rings, Musaki and Max walked out of the room first and Shifu was the one standing there waiting for the others and before long, all of the Five quickly popped out of the rooms and said, "Morning, master."

A thump came from the other room and Po popped out of the room and said, "Morning, Shifu."

Arizona, Shing, Kazuo, Ruiz and Zeke followed suit as well and everything fell silent. Shifu stared at Musaki and Max and he told them, "After meditating, meet me in the Sacred Hall of Warriors."

"Yes, master." Musaki said.

An hour later...

Musaki and Max went in the Sacred hall of Warriors where they see the Five and Po standing there as well as Shifu in the Moon Pool and when Shifu heard them come in, he faced them and he had a very angry look on his face.

"Explain to me why you kept your cousin from us." Shifu said, angrily.

"I didn't want to, but after Max ran away from Tigress, I could tell that he might be too scared to meet most of the Five. I wanted to tell him that they're good people, but I didn't know how to introduce him to you guys."

"You know that no secrets are kept in this palace!"

"I know, I know, but I didn't know what else to do!"

"Why didn't he introduce us himself?"

"Was he supposed to? I was gonna, but I didn't know how else to introduce him because he thinks you guys are strangers."

"We are not strangers!"

"I know that! What do you expect me to do?"

Shifu paused for a second after hearing what Musaki said and he said only, "I expect you to tell us about him instead of hiding him from us."

Musaki sighed heavily and said, "I know and I'm sorry. But it doesn't change the fact that I have to protect my cousin."

"How long has he been your cousin?" asked Viper.

"A month ago."

"He's new?" asked Crane.

"Yep."

"Where did he come from?"

"Southeast China." Max answered.

Shifu stared at him and said, "Tell us about you...right now."

Max was hesitant, but he sighed heavily and explained everything. He cleared his throat and said, "I came from a very unhappy life with my birth family. My parents abuse me constantly and half of my family does the same as well. When I was four or five...I was molested by my mom and my dad beat me harshly that blood comes out of me and I'd be unconscious. One day when I was younger, my parents abandonded me with some rabid wolves for nearly a year and I'd be molested by them and they'd try to kill me as well. After that, I went to the Bao Gu Orphanage on my own; beaten and bruised and I remained there for 5 years and in those times, I was haunted by the images of my mom molesting me and it made me feel like I shouldn't even exist and that I should die. That's how I always felt ever since."

Immediately, Po, Viper and Crane felt sorry for Max and Mantis immediately went on top of Max's shoulder and said, "Wow. I never thought that someone would do that to you."

"Neither would I. And this is a heavy subject that's been bothering him ever since." Musaki added.

Shifu's face softened a little and he only stared at him and Max lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble. Musaki shouldn't be involved in this. He was just looking out for me."

Viper slithered to him and used her tail to comfort him, which made Max feel a little uneasy but when he looked at her eyes, he felt a little calm about it and she told him, "You're safe here with us."

Po went up to him and said, "I think you have an awesome cousin who's here to look out for you and Musaki's a good guy and I'm glad he's in your life."

"I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to scare you guys. Do you hate me?"

"After hearing your story, we don't. It must've been haunting to go through something like that." Shifu added.

"It has been. It just made me stop trusting people."

"Well, you can trust us." Monkey added.

"How long are you gonna be here exactly?" asked Tigress.

"2 weeks. My birth mom came back for me and I think she wants to take me away from my adopted family."

"Well, we're gonna make sure that that doesn't happen." Viper added.

"We've got your back, little man." Po said, happily.

"Maybe we can start over?" asked Musaki.

"Sure thing."

"Hey guys, this is my new cousin, Max. These are my adopted family-The Furious Five, Grandmaster Shifu and the Dragon Warrior."

Max's jaw dropped when Musaki told them and said, "You live with them?"

"3 years."

"Yep."

"Hey, little guy. I'm Po, the Dragon Warrior."

"The dragon Warrior? I'm a big fan of you."

"Thanks. These are my friends-Tigress, Mantis, Crane, Viper and Monkey."

"Monkey's my favorite."

Monkey felt flattered to hear that he's Max's favorite member and he asked, "Really? Why me?"

"Because you're funny, cool and really amazing with your moves."

"Thanks, kid."

"And this is Master Shifu." Musaki added.

Shifu smiled at Max and he said, "Nice to meet you, Max."

"Same here."

"And you're here for 2 weeks, I heard."

"Yeah."

Musaki smiled and he felt like he can finally look at Max and see that he's gonna be comfortable around most of the kung-fu warriors. Later, as they went to the training hall and showed off his moves, they were really awe-struck.

Po was the first one to say, "That was freakin' awesome! How'd you learn to do that?"

"Arizona taught me a few days ago and I got into kung-fu because of my adopted brothers." Max answered.

"I think you'll fit here just fine."

Max looked at the others and they were smiling at him but when he looked at Tigress, she didn't seem to be too fond of Max and she scoffed at him, which made Max a little sad.

Musaki noticed that Max was a little down because Tigress didn't seem to like him and he puts his hand on his shoulder and said, "She'll get used to you."

"When? She doesn't like me."

"Hey, just give her some time. She'll grow to like you." Po added.

"Besides, anything you need, even if you want to talk to any of us, our rooms are open for you." Crane said.

"Just let us know first." Shifu added.

"Okay." Max replied.

* * *

><p>Good thing they accepted him...except for Tigress. Think he'll apologize to her? Possible chance in the next chapter!<p> 


	7. Apologizing to Tigress

So...we left you the burning question; will Max apologize to Tigress and will she accept it? The answers' all right here...

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: Apologizing to Tigress<p>

Max was sitting at the Sacred Peach Tree, thinking things over about meeting the Five, Shifu and Po for the first time and he felt as if telling them about his molestation might've made them feel like they didn't want him around, but they gave him the sympathy card anyway because he's been through a lot. He wasn't sure if he can trust some of the Five, including Tigress because to him, she looks a little like her mom, but not too crazy. He did kinda feel bad that he scratched her and that he was thinking about apologizing to her, but would she accept it? He didn't know what to do about it because he was too scared of his own species and that he's afraid that she might hurt him.

He covered his head with his paws and just laid his head back towards the tree, just feeling definitely frustrated, thinking to himself, 'What do I do?'

Just then, he hears some footsteps coming in and it was Musaki coming in and he saw him looking really sad and he sat down next to him, puts his arm around his shoulder and asked softly, "What's wrong, little guy?"

Max just looked at Musaki and after a few minutes of silence, he said, "I kinda feel really bad about scratching Tigress the other day. It's just that when I saw her face, I can see my mom. I didn't really mean to it, but... I was just scared."

Musaki looks at Max and he patted his head and told him, "Hey, you didn't know. It probably was an accident, although it was in self-defense."

"Yeah. Since my mom molested me and my dad beat me up when I was a cub, I've been afraid of my own kind and also...other tigers."

Musaki raised his eyebrows and after hearing what Max said, he figures that it has something to do with his birth mom and he asked, "Afraid of your own species, huh?"

"Mm-hmm." he said, sadly.

"Well...you know what'll make it easier? If you feel really bad about it, only thing you can do is apologize to Tigress."

That suggestion made Max feel a little uneasy about it and he felt really scared about it because of the look on Tigress' face and he said, "But what if she won't accept it?"

"She will. She may be a little hard to deal with; like her hardcoreness and other stuff, including her anger issues and everything, but she can be really understanding. I'm sure that she'll accept your apology."

"How do you know?"

"The Dragon Warrior knows that she's tough, but after defeating Tai Lung, she's come to respect him and accept him. Underneath it all, she's really a nice person. And I'm sure that she'll be easy on you."

Max knew Musaki was right and that if he didn't, he was gonna live in fear for the rest of his life. He sighed heavily and decided that maybe now is the best time and that he didn't want to be scared forever and he also asked him, "Can you come with me?"

Musaki smiled at him and said, "Sure."

When they went to the Training Hall, they saw Tigress doing some more training. Max went behind Musaki and he was a little afraid that she might hurt him again and he whispered, "I can't do this."

"You have to. It's kinda the only choice you have." Musaki whispered.

Seconds later, Tigress sees Musaki standing on the side of the Training hall and she seemed a little angry, but not too much as she stared at him and she asked in cold tone, "What do you want?"

Musaki took a deep breath and said, "I know you're busy and everything, but can I take like five minutes out of your time for a bit?"

She folded her arms and said, "Yes."

"Listen...there's someone here that maybe wants to say something to you."

Max knew that there was no way out of this one. He slowly got out from behind him and started shaking in front of her. Tigress could already tell that he's intimidated by her presence because she was still ticked that Musaki kept Max for 2 days and didn't tell anyone else about it and she looked at Max and asked, "What is it?"

"I...came to...uh..."

"To what?" she said, with an impatient tone.

"Uhh...say that..."

Tigress felt like she was gonna snap at any minute because of Max's nervousness and then, he finally mustered up the courage and said, "That I'm...sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

Max sighed sadly and lowered his head down, which made Tigress' impatience level simmer down as she sees him feeling really sad and told her, "For scratching you, biting you and pushing you."

Tigress stared at Musaki and he told her, "He's really sorry though."

She sighed heavily, turned around for a minute and then asked, "Why didn't you say something before?"

"We didn't know how to because if we were to tell you-"

"I was talking to the cub."

Max still had his head down and he still said in a soft tone, "Because I was too scared to."

Tigress turned to Max, got down on one knee and asked, in a gentle tone, "What were you scared of?"

Silence filled the room and Max looked up at her face and he sees that she's not planning to harm him and said, "Because you look like my mom...and that she's...a monster."

Tigress began to be taken aback by his remark and she didn't seem angry or upset, but just a little concerned about it and asked, "What makes you think that way?"

"I was afraid that I would be...molested again."

She widened her eyes and she could tell that this cub has been through a lot and she looked at Musaki and he could already tell that Max had a fear of his own kind and then Max told her, "I'm scared of...my own kind."

After he said it, it made Tigress felt like she had a slap to the face to know that Max is a tiger cub and that she's a tiger as well, means that he's scared of his own species. She asked, "Why would you think that I would molest you? I would never do that, not to little children like you."

Max didn't believe that and Musaki told him, "I know you wouldn't do that to little kids, but Max felt like you would hurt him in anyway possible. His mother already molested him when he was five and the reason he kept that secret from you guys is that you wouldn't accept him."

"That's not true. And you know that's not true." Tigress added.

"I know. I just didn't know what to do."

Tigress sighed heavily and she felt really sorry for Max and she told him, "You're a good cousin."

"I made a promise to my cousins and my uncle that while they're gone, I'll look out for him in anyway possible, even though it'll take 2 weeks."

Tigress then got to Max, let out a smile and she said, "I'm sorry that I didn't give you a chance earlier today. I just don't like it when people keep secrets here in the palace."

She then hugged him tightly and Max felt really scared about it, but calmed down quickly that she didn't hurt him at all. She told him, "I know I may be aggressive and rough around the edges-"

"Around the edges is an understatement." Musaki muttered.

She ignored that and continued on saying, "But sometimes the hardcore has feelings too."

Max looked at her in the eyes and he knew that she has a gentle soul and he said, "How do I know that you won't hurt me?"

Tigress just hugged him tightly and she felt really sorry for Max and she patted his head slowly and said, "If you give me a chance."

"You're nice. So...are we okay?"

She chuckled and said, "Sure. Maybe if you can show me some of your moves when we'll spar."

He nodded his head and said, "You got it."

She patted his head and Max started smiling and Musaki smiled too and he said, "You see Max, even though she may be kinda crazy mad, she's a very understanding person once you get to know her."

"Thanks, cousin."

"You're welcome." Musaki said, laughing.

Max walks off the Training Hall feeling happy and Musaki felt happy for him and he looked at Tigress and asked, "Why couldn't you be like that towards me?"

Tigress rolled her eyes and said, "For sibling purposes. We just like to mess with each other."

She then gave Musaki a noogie and he groaned playfully and asked, "Who taught you that?"

"The Dragon Warrior." she said, laughing.

Musaki rubbed his head and sarcastically said, "Of course. Learn from the Dragon Warrior-give a noogie to the enemy."

* * *

><p>Awesome stuff, right? She finally gave Max a chance! Now let's see what happens next!<p> 


	8. Coping, pt 2

Now we seek Max's little alternative secret that he's been hiding since he was eight to kill the visuals of being molested. Can we say...drama?

* * *

><p>Chapter 8: Coping, pt. 2<p>

Later that night, Max tossed and turned again as another nightmare brewed upon his head about his bio mom and this nightmare grew into something much more worse.

_Nightmare_

_Max's bio mom started laughing at him as she cracked her whip at her son, causing him to scream in pain as he felt the pain coming from his back. He was tied up and gagged on a chair and she kept whipping him back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and then, she pushed him down on the ground. Max tried to escape but she grabbed him by the tail and then threw him to an abandoned house, where she set it on fire. Seconds later, she sees Max being engulfed by the flames and then walks away. Max was screaming in deep pain as the house caved in on him and then..._

Back to reality

Max woke up, panting heavily and then he's still in Musaki's room and looked at himself and sees that he's just fine. Though it was just a dream, he still can't get over the visual of being molested by his mother and he just felt like a piece of crap. He sighed heavily, snuck out of the room and made his way to the kitchen and he secretly pulled out a knife and thought about cutting himself with it. He sat down on the ground and immediately started cutting. He winced at the pain as blood comes out of his wrists, but he didn't care about it and continued on.

2 minutes later, someone turned on the light and when he looked up, he saw a very shocked, furious and appalled Master Shifu standing in front of him as the blood dripped out of his fur and holding a knife to his hand and he angrily asked, "What are you doing to yourself?"

"C-Cutting." Max replied, softly.

He sees the blood splatter from the floor and him holding a knife and demanded to know why he cut himself. Max stood up and Shifu angrily asked him, "How long have you been cutting yourself?"

"Since I was 8."

"8 years old? And you're how old?"

"12. I've been cutting myself for 4 years."

That made Shifu even more angry and he angrily said, "4 years? Why would you do this to yourself?"

"Because I feel like I don't want to exist anymore!"

Shifu could see the true angst and anger on Max's face and he figured that this had something to do with his birth mom molesting him and he let out a heavy sigh and told him, "Sit down, Max."

Max set the knife down on the counter and sat down on the chair and as Shifu sits down, he looked at him straight in the eyes and asked, "Why do you cut yourself?"

Max lowered his head down, not facing Shifu at all and replied, "Because I hate myself."

"Why?"

"I've been molested by my mom and it made me feel like I caused it to happen, like it was my fault."

Shifu calmed himself down, but he was still angry at the fact that Max would really do that for 4 years and he asked again, "Why do you think that what happened was your fault?"

"I was haunted by the visuals in my head that my mom did this to me and...it just couldn't leave me alone, so cutting was my only option to kill that sight so I wouldn't see it anymore."

"And what did you mean by you don't want to exist anymore?"

"Because of what my mom did, it felt like why am I still here or why should I even belong with anyone, like maybe it'll be better off if I wasn't even born. Like I just wanna run away and never come back at all."

Shifu felt really sorry for him and he comforted him and told him, "You've been thinking about running away?"

"And killing myself too."

Shifu was very shocked to hear that and he said, "You can't do that."

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't."

"You've got too much to live for. You can't let that get in the way of what's happening right now."

Max didn't believe what Shifu just told him and he asked him, "Are you saying that for sympathy?"

"I'm just being honest with you. You can't kill yourself or do any harm to yourself because of what your mother did." Shifu added.

"Why not? I'm just nothing but a worthless freak."

"That is not true."

Shifu and Max turned around and saw Arizona coming in and he took a seat next to him and asked, "Do you know how anyone would feel if you killed yourself? They'd be very heartbroken if you did...even me."

"And me too." Shifu added.

"Why do you guys care anyway?" asked Max.

"Max...you've been like the little brother I never had when I first met you. Musaki helped me out of the darkness when I ran away from Dai Ling and he helped me see the light. If he didn't care about me, I'd still be at that tower today. I promised myself that I would help someone else who felt like they want to end their lives or have been through some very tough situations that don't know how to face. I care about you because you've been through a lot...and I see myself in you." Arizona explained.

"How so?"

Arizona was ready to drop a surprising bombshell on Max and Shifu and he took a deep breath and said, "I've been molested too."

Shifu gasped in shock and Max dropped his jaw and asked, "Really?"

"Yeah, one of Dai Ling's comrades molested me when I was eight and Dai Ling did the same thing to me as well. It's like I caused it to happen, even though it only happened once. The effect on you is not easy to forget. There were times that I wanted to end my life, but I can't because some of the 'innocent prisoners' told me that I can do anything I can set my mind to and that's been stuck in my head ever since and it increased as Musaki got me out of there."

Max fell silent about Arizona being molested too and he said, "And I thought I was the only one."

"Well, you're not."

"How can any parent do that to their own child? Just hearing about it makes me angry." Shifu added.

"So what do I do?"

"All you have to do is try to let go of your burden and leave the past behind. It's not your fault that it happened. You just need someone that cares about you and that loves you no matter what. I know you're Musaki's cousin, but I'm willing to protect you in any way possible because you mean a lot to me."

Arizona's words struck a chord on Max and his eyes welled up with tears and he hugged him tightly. Arizona welled up with tears as well and whispered, "I love you, Max."

"You too." Max whispered.

"Me and Musaki will be here for you, I promise."

Max then went out of the kitchen, leaving Arizona and Shifu to talk as well and Shifu asked, "Did that really happen to you?"

Arizona sighed sadly and said, "Yeah. I understand where Max is coming from and I still hated Dai Ling even though he's dead now."

"You're making yourself a good older brother to Max."

Arizona smiled and said, "I don't know what that feels like, but I want to help him in anyway possible and make him feel like he's not alone and never will be alone. I would give my life for the little guy."

"So will we. Get some rest, Arizona."

Shifu left the room, leaving Arizona alone to reflect on how his life came in full circle after Musaki rescued him from Dai Ling and hanging with Max a little and he said to himself, "We may be different, but together we're invincible."

* * *

><p>GASP! A little something about Arizona that nobody knows about. He was molested too, which is the one reason him and Max relate to each other so well. But the drama in the next chapter will intensify! (makes evil laugh)<p>

BTW, I checked out the new sneak preview of Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness almost 2 hours ago. Can't wait for November 7th when it premieres! Let me hear you say 'SKADOOSH' if you're excited for the premiere!


	9. Stalked!

Remember when I said the drama will intensify? This chapter does it justice.

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><p>Chapter 9: Stalked!<p>

The next day comes and Max has gotten the hang of being with the kung-fu warriors for 2 weeks as long as he has Musaki and Arizona by his side. At the training hall, Max wanted to see Shifu's moves for the first time.

He stood before him, looking eager to spar with Shifu and he wanted to see what it was like. Shifu leapt up from the air, kicking Max in the stomach. He was on the ground, but Max knew he wasn't going down without a fight.

He got up on his stance and did a backflip and kicked Shifu in the back and flipped him across the training hall and he sees Shifu flying back to take him down and they sparred with each other for a minute with multiple kicking, swinging and punching in any given moment.

Suddenly, Shifu tells him to look up and then used his stick to smack Max's legs down, prompting him to fall to the ground. He looked at him, chuckled softly and said, "Always look out for your enemy and expect the unexpected."

Max groans and tries to stand up and he said, "That was unexpected."

"All in all, your moves impressed me throughout."

"Thanks."

Shifu chuckled softly and then he said, "Next, you will spar with Tigress."

Tigress stood in front of Max and he seemed confident that he's gonna spar with her while the others looked at Max's game face and Arizona asked Ruiz, "You think he's got a chance?"

"Not a chance. She can kick anyone's butt." Ruiz answered.

"Oh come on guys. Max has got this." Musaki added, happily.

As soon as Shifu snapped his fingers, Tigress quickly went in gear to spar with him as she used her moves on Max and he quickly fought back by using his backflip, swings, kicks, turns and other moves to make something awesome with it.

Tigress quickly ran up to him, but Max jumps up and heads to the other side and she was determined to catch him, but he did a handstand, which resulted in doing more flips and kickstands which impressed Master Shifu and the others.

"How'd you do that?" asked Tigress.

"I had an awesome teacher." Max answered.

They continued sparring with each other until Shifu stopped them shortly and he came to them and told them, "You two have done extremely well. Max, you have impressed me with your amazing skills. Tigress, excellent work as well. One little thing...go as hard as you can go next time."

"Yes, master."

As Max got some air, he was startled when his birth mother came in front of him with two swords and he asked in fear, "What are you doing here?"

"If I can't have you back...you won't even live!" his mother shouted.

She pointed the sword directly to his face and wanted to stab him directly and she said, "Now I'm gonna ask you again...are you coming home with me or not?"

"No." Max answered, fearfully.

She growled at him and at that point, she lunged at him and puts her hands on his neck and tried to choke him. Max was screaming and choking as his mom pinned him down and suddenly, Tigress steps out and sees Max getting pummeled and she immediately scratched her face.

She screamed in pain and Max ran away from her and headed back to the steps, catching his breath. Tigress knocked the crap out of her and beat her down furiously.

Max's mother snarled at her and she shouted, "I will have my son back!"

"Go away, please!" Max pleaded.

"SHUT UP!"

"Hey, you don't talk to Max like that!" Tigress snarled.

"Who do you think you are?"

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

"I am his mother!"

Tigress looked at her face and she quickly figured out that this was the person Max was talking about that she molested him and asked in an angry tone, "You mean you're the molester?"

She snarled at Max and didn't expect anyone to know about it and she angrily asked, "You told this...monster?"

Tigress gave her a sonic punch in the face which sent her flying out and landed on the ground and she quickly came back to kill Max, but Tigress stopped her mid-way by yanking her tail and slamming her down harder than ever.

"Don't you DARE call me that name again!"

Suddenly, the others were watching and they immediately went to Max's side, defending him. Arizona looked at her with an intense snarl and asked, "You're his bio mom?"

"What do you think?" she hissed.

"What kind of mother are you?" asked Shifu.

"Stay out of my business, you midget! Did Max tell you that I molested him?"

"Yes, he did." Arizona answered.

Musaki looked at her with a combination of anger and hate and said, "If you're here to harm Max again, you've got another thing coming!"

"You again?"

"Yes, again."

She quickly went up to Musaki to stab him, but Po pushed her out with his belly and sent her 200 feet above the air and they looked up and saw her fall down and land on a side of the mountain.

"If you ever plan to kill him, we'll be waiting for you!" Arizona shouted, to the sky.

Max was shaking in fear and Tigress quickly went to him and gave Max a hug and said, "We will never let anything bad happen to you and we will not let her harm you anymore."

"If this chick comes in to harm my little brother, she will regret it for the rest of her freakin' life!" Arizona added.

"Calm down, Arizona. We have to keep Max as safe as possible and if she plans to do him any harm to him, then you can kill her." Musaki said.

"She's coming back for me. I just know it." Max said, whimpering.

"From where we stand, she has no right to barge in to harm you. Whatever her reasons, she'll pay for what she did to you." Shifu said.

"But she'll kill you guys too."

"Not if we can kill her first...and you have to fight back."

"Me? Are you crazy?"

"I know you're scared, but you have to confront your past to let it go away. If you don't, you'll be trapped in fear of the past for the rest of your life." Musaki said.

Those words resonated with Max and he looked at the others and they got his back and he doesn't want to live in fear anymore and he agreed with what they said and then, he said, "You guys got my back."

"We always do." Po added.

"Then...I'm ready to confront my mom."

* * *

><p>Crazy, right? Believe me, there's more where that came from!<p> 


	10. Why Do You Care About Me?

A dramatic heart to heart angsty moment between Max and Arizona as he sees Max cutting himself.

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><p>Chapter 10: Why Do You Care About Me?<p>

As the days passed by, Max started to get to know most of the kung-fu masters more and seemed really comfortable with them, but he's still struggling to open up to Tigress and Shifu about anything, including his troubled past which he keeps it very personal.

Along the way, he and Arizona get along really well and Musaki is keeping a close eye on him at all times to make sure he's okay, but is growing worried that his birth mom will come back to kill him any moment.

One morning in the training hall, Shifu told him to spar with the other warriors starting with Monkey. Max became incredibly excited and just happy that he gets to spar with one of his heroes. He stares at him in the eyes as Monkey breaks out his stick and both of them clacked their sticks to each other while Max incorporates some of his moves. He does a combat-style move where he sets his legs apart and flips around a lot, trying to dodge his moves and from being targeted as well.

Monkey tries to pull the final blow, but Max jumped up to his feet with his stick and lands on the other side with his feet on the ground, surprising him. Monkey stood there stunned and surprised that this 12 year old tiger cub actually did it.

He chuckled and said, "Excellent work, kid."

"Thanks." Max said, smiling.

Within the next hour, He sparred with Viper, Mantis, Crane and also Po. Max never really thought that he'd spar with the Dragon Warrior face-to-face and Po was running towards him, swinging, punching, kicking and using every move to find Max's weak spots, but Max dodged every move he made except where Po slams his with his belly, but that didn't stop Max from flying towards him and punching him in the stomach.

Po groans in agonizing pain and landed on his knees and said, "I'm gonna lose my lunch."

"Which isn't the only thing he's lost." Mantis muttered.

Po then got up and Max was still going for it and he did a backflip and kicked him in the head, causing him to fall down on his face and then Max went in and gave him a swift kick in the butt.

"Right on the fat dough!" Musaki exclaimed.

Everyone stood there awestruck and Shifu's jaw was dropped when Max did that to Po and he told him, "Max, that move was underhanded and one of the most lowest ones I've ever seen."

Max kinda felt like he did something wrong and got chastised by it, but Shifu smiled at him and said, "Excellent work."

He took a deep breath of relief when he complimented his moves and Shifu went on to say, "I wish I would've done that."

"Don't we all?" asked Monkey, laughing.

"Break time, students."

10 minutes later...

Max was sitting at the Sacred peach Tree, just chilling out and looking at all the villages of the Valley of Peace and he's wondering why is it so peaceful there. It's been like 10 days since he came to the palace and he's starting to miss his adopted family very much and he's still struggling with the fact that the memories of being molested by his birth mom is starting to consume his head.

It just made him feel like he's still trapped in a sea of darkness that he's drowning in and the images still haunt him.

All the shame, guilt and ultimate self-blaming are crawling back into his head and he felt like he wanted to deal with that kind of pain-by feeling it.

He went to the kitchen and he proceeded to grab a pocketknife, sat down on the floor and started cutting himself again. As he began, he closed his eyes as he cuts his wrists and blood starts coming in. He just didn't mind the pain because that's what he's used to.

Just then, he heard someone walking in the kitchen and when he looked up, he saw a very stunned and dumbfounded Arizona standing there.

"Wh-what are you doing to yourself?" asked Arizona.

Max sighed heavily and said, "Cutting myself."

Arizona sees the drops of blood on the floor and from the looks of it, he was shock to see that it's not his first time. He tries to grab the pocketknife away from him, but Max reluctantly gives it to him. Arizona hands Max a paper towel to wipe the blood away from him and he asked him, "Why would you do this to yourself?"

Max didn't say anything because he knew that Arizona probably wouldn't understand it anyway. He only looked at him in the eye and looked away. That made Arizona a little frustrated to see that he's putting up a wall against others and told him, "Max...don't shut me out."

There was tension coming in between the two of them and Max looks at Arizona with a half-angry and half-sad look and he asked, "Why am I shutting you out? I just...don't wanna talk about it, okay?"

Arizona tensed up for a minute and asked again, "Why don't you?"

"Because it's not that important."

Arizona pounded his fist on the table and shouted angrily, "It is to me!"

Max groans in anger and hurt and asked, "Why does that matter to you anyway?"

Then, Arizona shouted in tears, "Because I care about you!"

Max froze for a second and he can see through Arizona's eyes that he's desperate to get through to him. He asked, "Why do you care about me anyway?"

Arizona sighs heavily, sits down on the floor with him and answered, "Because I've been where you are. I know what that feels like, when you want to shut everyone out. I've put a wall against myself because people don't understand me at all. Dai Ling kept calling me 'monster', 'ugly' and that no one will ever be friends with someone like me. And those stupid comrades of his...they made my life worse...like when one tried to...tried to..."

"Tried to what?"

Arizona covered his face and his paws went down to his muzzle, takes a heavy breath and said, "Tried to molest me. Remember when I told you that I was molested? It's true because one wolf member touched my entire body in 10 minutes and got on top of me for no reason. It only happened once, but the feeling stays with you forever and I had to suffer through it."

"How did you deal with it?"

"I didn't. It made me feel like I meant it to happen, like it was my fault. I know it's a personal subject that no one's ready to talk about, but we both have something in common. You're like a little brother to me and I would give my life up just for you."

Max smiled at Arizona to know that he cared for him that much and he shows him the scars under his fur that he made by himself and he also told him, "I used to cut myself when I was younger, but my fur kept growing so I had to stop. Just because I was called worthless or a nobody, it doesn't make you who you are. You're really special and that's what I like about you."

Arizona immediately gave him a hug and tears started coming out of his face and Max accepted the hug and he said, "I'm sorry if I worried you."

"Cutting yourself isn't gonna make it any better. I just want you to know that no matter what anyone says, you'll always be special to me."

They were unaware that Musaki overheard the whole thing and he came in the kitchen to see them hugging and he said, "That's sweet."

To their embarassment, Arizona and Max saw Musaki standing in and Max asked, "How much did you hear?"

"Just everything." Musaki replied.

Max walked out of the kitchen and Musaki was surprised to hear that Arizona was molested too and he asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were molested before?"

Arizona let out a heavy sigh, knowing that that subject was personal and horrifying for him to remember and he responded, "I didn't know how. I thought I'd forgotten, but then as I heard that Max was molested, the memories of that happening to me played in my head, so I know exactly what he's going through. I just wasn't ready to tell anyone else yet because I would be judged or rejected for anyone that would be my friends."

"Wow. There's a lot of things about you that I didn't even know."

"Well, there are millions and I wish I can share you stories."

"But I could never judge you. I know you've been through a lot and I can see what that feels like. I've never been molested before, but if I was, that'd be horrible."

"I'm really glad you came into my life, Musaki."

"Me too. Anyways, I received a letter from my uncle. He says that him and the others are gonna come home a little early, like maybe 2 days."

"2 days?"

"Yep. Said something about the finalization of the adoption has been submitted or something. I think it'll make Max really happy when I tell him the good news."

"That's great."

Musaki walks out of the room and Arizona stood there with many mixed emotions about his memories and relating to Max and everything and he felt like he's connecting with him more. He sighed heavily and said, "I would really give my life for you, Max. No doubt in my mind I will always have your back."

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the Valley of Peace, Max's bio mom became obsessed with getting Max back and she held her knife and a whip and decided to go on an angry tirade to get her revenge on her son.

She growls lowly and said, "If I can't have Max back, nobody can protect him. I'll make sure that if I catch him, he's gonna wish he'd never live again!"

She threw the knife on the side of the mountain, grabs it and said, "Mark my words, Max...I'll get you back and when I do...you will die...if it's the last thing I do."

* * *

><p>How awesome am I with drama? Guess you didn't expect that at the end of this chapter, huh? Well, you can expect that to happen. (sinister laugh) When will it unfold? You'll just have to wait...<p> 


	11. Kidnapped!

Told you that there might be some drama input...at least through the end.

* * *

><p>Chapter 11: Kidnapped!<p>

Later that day, Musaki heads over to the hallway and seconds later, he sees Max coming inside the barracks and he caught up with him and told him, "Hey, cuz. Got a minute?"

Max looks up at Musaki and lets out a smile and responded, "Yeah. I got a minute."

They both headed over to Musaki's room and then Musaki sat down on the ground with the scroll on his hand and told him, "I got this message from my uncle, aka your dad."

Max raised his eyebrows and realized that it's coming from his adopted father and Musaki gave him the scroll and as he opened it, he starts reading it.

_Max, how ya doing? Everything going okay at the palace? Anyways, remember when I told you that we'd be gone for 2 weeks? Well, I brought in two new brothers that are gonna live with us and so much so, our little adventure ended quickly than I thought, so we decided to come home a little early. Isn't that awesome? How's Musaki? You guys getting along? I know that things have been a little crazy since your bio mom came back for you and tried to harm you and stuff. I wish you would've told us sooner. As long as you got Musaki to protect you, I know that you were in good hands. Anyways, I miss you and your siblings miss you a lot, including Crash. I know you guys argue a lot-and I mean a WHOLE lot-but he misses you big time. We'll be arriving back sometime on Saturday or Sunday, depending on when we get there. See you in 2 days! Mako._

Max seemed really overjoyed that his adopted father is coming home early and he said, "This is awesome news!"

Musaki let out a smile seeing Max being happy and he folded his arms and said, "I figured you'd be happy."

"Thanks, Musaki. I gotta let everyone else know!"

Max quickly ran out of the room with the scroll on his hand leaving Musaki alone to see that Max is extremely happy about Mako coming home early and that left a warm feeling in his heart that he's been taking care of him and looking out for him, ever since his birth mom came back for him, trying to harm him.

He stood up and walks out of the room and he thought to himself, 'I guess things are looking up for Max after all.'

He felt like a great big brother to Max for the first couple of days and he knows that he's good friends with Arizona and there was a brotherly-like bond they shared. Either way, it's the best feeling he's ever gotten and that he would do anything for him.

Later on, Max sees the kung-fu warriors at the Sacred Hall of Warriors and Shifu noticed him looking totally awestruck happy and he asked, "Max, you okay?"

Max panted heavily and he tried to catch his breath and said, "Doing...great...actually?"

Po noticed there was a smile in him and he asked, "You happy about something?"

"Yeah. I got this letter from my dad and he said that he's coming home early." Max answered.

Po widened his eyes and asked, "Whoa, really?"

"Uh-huh." he said, happily.

Shifu then asked him, "Your birth or adopted?"

"Adopted." Max replied.

Max hands the scroll to Shifu and as he read it, he could see that it is indeed good news for Max. He gives it back to him with a smile on his face and said, "Well, that is really good news. I'm hoping that your time here was the best one you ever had."

"It is. Musaki and Arizona are like my big brothers away from home, even though one's my cousin and the other is my best friend, but it feels like they're a part of my family."

"Glad to hear that." Viper said, happily.

Max bows to them and they did the same as he walked out of the room, feeling joyful inside. Everyone felt really happy for him...well, except for Tigress, thinking that he might be leaving soon because she was growing attached to Max like she was her little brother.

Po noticed Tigress feeling a little sad and asked her, "You okay, Tigress?"

She looked at Po and tries to hide it from him and responded, "Yeah, I'm...doing okay."

He could see right through her and he immediately knew that something was wrong with her because he could tell from her voice and he said, "You're sad, aren't you?"

She scoffed at him and said, "What do I have anything to be sad about? I'm kinda happy for Max that his adopted father is coming home early. Why shouldn't I be?"

"You really like this little guy, don't you?"

Po glared at her and Tigress quickly let her guard down as she let out a sad sigh and then asked, "Why would he leave us? These past 10 days have been the best since he's been here. It's like...he's the little brother I never had before."

"I understand. He's cool to be with as well, but he lives in parts of the Valley. He shouldn't be hard to find."

"But...what if his birth mother will...?"

"Hurt him? I've been thinking about that too, but she'll get over it. Besides, Max will always come visit us."

Tigress knew that she would feel happy for Max, but she doesn't want him to leave because she cares a lot for him. She never knew what that feeling would be like, but it just kept growing on her on the inside.

Later that night, Max was looking at the moon on the Sacred Peach Tree with Arizona and they both saw the shooting star come out. Arizona told him, "Did you see that shooting star?"

"Yeah." Max responded.

"I heard that if you see one, you make a wish."

"Yeah, I've heard of that."

"So...what would you wish for?"

Max thought about that for a minute and then, he said, "I wish that I can live my new life in peace and not let anything bad happen to me. What about you?"

"My wish is the same as yours and also that yours can come true. And...personally, my wish is to protect the people that I care about and that I'm willing to do all that I can to keep them safe."

"Wow. That's a powerful wish."

"Yeah. Dai Ling wouldn't let me help the ones that are suffering back in Kong Wolf City because he felt like they're weak and they deserve to suffer and I don't agree with that at all. It's just-something inside of me wants to defend them and keep them alive."

"It's called caring and courage."

They both turned around to see Tigress coming in behind them and she explained to Arizona, "If you really care for someone that much, you'll do anything for them...even if it's people you know or people you don't know. You're more selfless as Po."

"I try to." Arizona said, with a chuckle.

"Can I talk to Max for a minute?"

"Sure. Later, Max."

Max gave Arizona a high-five and walks off the tree, leaving Tigress alone to talk to Max. He didn't know what's the reason and she felt like she was gonna take out her hidden frustration on Max about him leaving and she said, "I hear your father's coming in 2 days."

"Yeah, isn't that great?" asked Max.

"Bet you can't wait to see him and your siblings and live in peace."

"Pretty much."

She felt her anger level boiling up to a maximum level and she then told him, "And pretty soon...you'll leave us."

Max seemed confused on that one and asked, "What do you mean by that? I live like 10 minutes from you guys."

"I know. It's just..."

She tried to think of something, but Max could already tell that she was gonna lash out at any minute and he asked, "Are you mad about me leaving?"

"Who's mad?" she screamed.

That made Max uncomfortable when she let it out and she told him, "Why would you even bother being here if your birth mom would just come over here and try to kill you? Or the fact that you scratched my face for no reason at all? Do you think that I'm playing the sympathy card for you? I'm happy that you're leaving here because you're not even meant to be here at all!"

Max froze for a minute after hearing everything Tigress just said and he sees a tear falling from her face and then, he asked, "That's what you thought?"

She got down on her knees and started crying hysterically and said, "No. I'm just mad that you're leaving because you're like a little brother to me and I would do anything to keep you from your birth mom."

He came over to her and gave her a hug, which surprised her immediately and he told her, "To be honest, you're like a mother to me...except gentler and sometimes a little overbearing. But what's different with you is that you never hurt me."

She felt a warm feeling in her heart that he referred to her as his mother and she hugged him tightly as the tears flow on her face and she told him, "No one's ever thought of me that way before."

"I do all the time."

"I just want you to know that no matter what happens, I'll always think of you as my son."

Max smiled at her and said, "Thanks."

"Aww, this is so cute!"

They didn't realize that they were being watched by Po as he quickly came over to them and gave them a huge hug, which nearly crushed their lungs. Tigress went ahead and clawed his butt, which made Po scream and whimper in pain as he rubbed his butt to make it go away.

"Why'd you do that?" asked Po.

"Any other stupid questions before you were spying on us?"

Po grunts in pain and said, "Sorry, but this was just too cute to see that you and Max are getting along. I couldn't help myself."

They looked at each other and Max asked, "How do you deal with this guy?"

Tigress sighed and shook her head in embarassment and replied, "Honestly, I don't even know, but we love him anyway."

Later, Max was falling asleep and suddenly, he heard someone coming in the hallway. He opened his eyes and then walks out of the room to see where it came from. Suddenly, it was silent and Max wasn't quite sure who or where it was, but he was thinking that it was just his imagination.

Then, the noise came back again and he walks across the hallway slowly and quietly and as he made his way outside, he didn't know whether or not someone was there and he said, "Hello? Is anyone here?"

Some quick footsteps were coming in and that startled him into making a combat-like move in order to take him or her out himself. Then, he sees a pair of light orange eyes coming towards him and whispered, "Run."

Max seemed afraid that this was a stranger coming for him and he asked, "What?"

"Run now! She's coming after you." he whispered, in a worried tone.

"Who?"

Out of nowhere, Max slowly turns around and he was beaten up and knocked down hard and as he fell down, he saw a dark shadowy figure coming at him and suddenly...everything went dark as he laid down in unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>CLIFFHANGER! Can anyone guess what happens and who's knocked Max out? Take a guess as you're reviewing. The next chapter, the drama will go to a freakin' 200%! I bet you guys can savor it... Say SKADOOSH if you wanna see the next chapter!<p> 


	12. Max is Gone!

What's the drama level in this chapter? I'll let you be the judge of that as you read it.

* * *

><p>Chapter 12: Max is Gone!<p>

The next morning rose and as Musaki woke up, he lets out a slight groan with the sun beaming through his face with a huge yawn, scratched his back and groggily said, "Morning, Max."

There was only silence and to his surprise, Max didn't respond.

"Max?" he called out again.

Still nothing. He quickly got out of bed, looked around his room, only to find that he's not there at all. He looked around the hallway and in everyone's room to see if he was there too and he wasn't in any other those rooms too. Then, he went over to Arizona's room thinking that he might be there, but as he went in, he wasn't there either.

Musaki was in a panic mode thinking that he might've run away, but he knows that he couldn't have without telling them or for personal reasons. That's when one thought hit him: something's happened.

As soon as he came back to the hallway, he sees Shifu standing there and Musaki was breathing heavily and Shifu could immediately see that and he asked, "Something wrong, Musaki?"

"Have you seen Max anywhere?" asked Musaki, worriedly.

"No. I haven't seen him since yesterday." Shifu answered.

That made Musaki grow even more worried than ever and Shifu studied his movements and sees that he's panicking about Max's sudden disappearance and he asked, "Think something happened to him?"

"I don't know. I-I hope not."

As the morning gong rings, the kung-fu masters immediately got out of the room and saying, "Morning, master!"

Then, Po was next to head out of the room and said, "Morning, Master Shifu!"

The hallway grew eeriely silent like tension is starting to mount and Tigress didn't know what was going on and she asked, "Is there something wrong, master?"

"I'm afraid Musaki has bad news to tell us." Shifu said, with despair.

She could sense that something has happened and she turned to Musaki and he then said, "Max...is missing."

All of the other warriors gasped in shock and responded, "He's gone?"

Musaki could feel it inside of him as he takes a shaking breath and he said, "Something must've happened to him. I just know it."

"How can you tell?" asked Crane.

"I can sense that there was something wrong the minute I woke up."

Then, Arizona, Kazuo, Shing, Zeke and Ruiz came out of the room and overheard everything, which made Arizona feel completely afraid for Max and he asked, "What happened to Max?"

"How the heck should I know?" Musaki exclaimed.

Then, Arizona immediately figured out what might be the cause. He let out a low growl, curled up his fists and asked, in angry tone, "She did this, didn't she?"

"Who are you talking about?" asked Kazuo.

"You know who I'm talking about! His birth mom! She might've come back for him to kill him!"

"Hold on, Zona. We don't even know that she might've done this." Musaki assured him.

"I have a gut feeling. Wolves have a bonus sense too."

"We do?" asked Ruiz, confusedly.

Arizona turned to Ruiz, growling at him for asking a stupid question and then focused his attention to everyone else and said, "I'm gonna kill that chick!"

"Let's think about this, Arizona. Even if she did kidnap him, we don't even know where she might take him." Crane said.

Arizona pounded his fist on a wall and shouted, "I don't care! She's gonna pay for it!"

Suddenly, Zeke sees a hidden scroll on the ground and when he opened it, it was pretty much an explicit message that suggested that it had something to do with Max and he said, "Sounds like someone left us a note."

"Is it about Max?" asked Musaki.

"Yep."

"What are you standing around for? Read it!" Arizona shouted.

He quickly opened it and Zeke could tell that this would be completely horrifying. He reads:

_I have Max. If I can't have him, he would not be able to live any longer. I've molested him once before and I will most likely do it again, this time even more worse and painful than anyone has ever thought of, but he'll grow to love the pain I'll give him because it's my pleasure and desire. You will never find him, unless you can see his remains. But I'm in one of the mountains away from your precious Valley of Peace and if you try to rescue him, he will have a quick painful death. Min Hui._

Arizona felt his heart sinking deeply after Zeke read the note Max's bio mother left and everyone felt like their hearts were sinking too and Musaki got down on his knees and broke down crying softly.

Po looks down and sees Musaki just losing it and he couldn't bear to see him like this. He got down to his level and hugged him tightly. He whispered, "We'll get him, Lil' Saki."

"She's gonna kill my cousin. I just know it." Musaki said, tearfully.

"Don't say that, Musaki! Don't you EVER say that again!" Arizona yelled, in tears.

Musaki could see that Arizona became mad and also scared for Max and he told him, "What are we gonna do?"

Suddenly, Zeke sees a map along with the letter that leads them to where she's holding Max captive. He was confused by it and asked, "Why did she put a map on that letter?"

"Because I put it there." a voice said.

Suddenly, all of them looked around and saw a black and white striped tiger, dark hazel eyes, wearing a T-shirt and long blue pants, 150 pounds, 5'4, somewhere between 14 or 15 years of age and multiple scars around his body-coming in the hallway.

"You put it there?" asked Shifu.

"Yeah."

Arizona immediately snarled at the tiger, which made him back away slowly, but Arizona beat him to the punch as he lunged at him against a wall and asked, "Where is he?"

The tiger tried to say something, but Arizona kept growling at him and the tiger said, "If you'll just let me explain-"

Arizona slapped him in the face, his eyes looking like he was gonna kill him and he shouted, "Shut up! I don't need to hear your explanation! Where's Max?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you!"

"Arizona!"

Arizona turned to Musaki and calmly told him, "Let him go."

"Why should we trust him?", he asked in a cold tone.

"Listen to me, whether or not he knows about where Max might be, he might give us some pointers about his birth mom being such a horny killer."

Arizona stared at him and pondering on Musaki's statement, he calmly let the tiger go and he told him, "I'm Yuan, by the way."

"Yuan, explain more." Shifu said, angrily.

Later on, they went into the kitchen and Yuan started explaining to them everything about this. He took a deep breath and said, "The reason why she wanted him back so that she could molest him more and kill him as well."

"And why would she do that? Even to little children?" asked Viper.

"Because she was very damaged, like a child. From what I gathered from her, she was sexually abused by a family friend of her parents; like touching her inappropriately, engaging in kissing and licking her tail."

"Eww! That's disgusting!" Zeke exclaimed.

"Who in their right might would lick someone's tail? That's just...violating." Musaki added.

"Sick, right? Anyways, she has never gotten over that and when she was about 16, she got knocked up by her boyfriend whom he was a prisoner and lo and behold, gave birth to 14 tiger cubs and Max is the 5th out of the 14 cubs. She has never been able to recover from that trauma and despite giving birth to 14 kittens, she hates being a mother and would often lash out at them, beat them up, say that they hate them everyday, but her biggest target was Max. She would vision having the same kind of situation that happened to her and thinking that Max should feel the same way too. So, she molested him when he was only four or five, like touching his lower parts, caressing his tail and backside, sucking his tail and there was one point where she would tie him up to the chair, used a whip and snap it at him to feel the same pain she felt. She's physically, verbally and mentally abuse Max because he wouldn't come that close to her. That's why he's been living in fear for so long and somehow, one day she was fed up with being a mother that she gave Max up and left the others to fend for themselves and Max was left by some wolves that would literally harm him. That was pretty much the rest of the story and that's why she is who she is."

They all felt disgusted to hear that Max's bio mom would go that extreme and Shifu told him, "That's still no excuse for a mother to do that kind of inappropriate behavior and engage in such activity to a child."

"I wish you would've told me that before." Yuan added.

"Before what?" asked Crane.

"I was plucked by her 3 years ago after she killed my parents and tried to convince me that they left me and didn't want me anymore, which isn't true. Since then, I've become her little toy solider, doing what she would do to me and it would be the most horrifying thing I've ever been in."

They all couldn't imagine what it would've been like to be put in a situation like that and Arizona suddenly felt sorry for Yuan and he said, "You shouldn't have to go through this."

"Neither should Max. When I first saw him last night, I told him to go back, but he was too late. His birth mom knocked him out and gagged him and took him away. She wanted me to kill him, but I refused to do so. She would threaten me with a knife to kill me if I didn't do what she said. I left her behind and waited to tell you guys this story."

"Well, it's a good thing you did that." Tigress added.

"Otherwise, Arizona would've killed you." Ruiz added.

"Dude..." Arizona said, growling.

"Either way, we have got to save Max." Musaki added.

"That's why I put the map in after she wrote the scroll so you guys can save him." Yuan explained.

"Smart decision." Shifu said.

"Let's not waste any time. We've got to get him and defeat that child hating whore!" Tigress exclaimed.

"Okay...I don't know why she said that, but I'm with her." Musaki said.

Everyone exclaimed in agreement and they went out of the palace to rescue Max. Arizona looked up at the sky and said, "We're coming to rescue you, Max. Just hold on, little guy."

* * *

><p>Guess you didn't expect that coming from me, huh? Will the gang rescue Max in time? Find out next! If you were to describe Max's bio mom in one word, what would it be? The next chapter, Max's mom goes off the deep end and think about that thought when I post the next chapter. And let me be honest, the drama goes rising up! I'm awesome at creating drama, am I?<p> 


	13. Cruelty

This shows how low Max's bio mom is when she molests him badly. Warning: this might contain molesting themes.

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><p>Chapter 13: Cruelty<p>

Max suddenly groans in pain, slowly opens his eyes and sees that he's in another place, where it's dark and gloomy. He gets up, only to realize that he's all tied up in someone's bed. He didn't know what was going on and he tried to break free, but it felt like the ropes were too strong to break.

He grunts in every single effort to break out, but to no success at all. He pants heavily and he was really afraid of what's coming next and he fearfully asked, "Is anyone here?"

Just then, someone comes in the cave and to his horror, he soon discovers that it was his mom. He started breathing sharply as she enters the room and she rubbed his shoulders and said, "You should never have left me."

Max was confused on that one, thinking that it was his fault and he said, "You left me with those savage wolves when I was five."

"I meant...being in your adopted family that doesn't even know you."

He could tell that she was still angry at him for being in an adoptive family for a month, which didn't make sense to him at all. He asked, "Why are you obsessed with getting me back anyway?"

"I've been thinking about you and I wanted a piece of you yet again."

She went ahead and licked Max's face slowly, which made him whimper in fear and she asked him, "Did that make you uncomfortable?"

"Yes, it did." he answered, in a scared tone.

She made a sinister grin and went all over him, trying to make him think he wanted it bad and Max was trying to resist it, but she kept touching his lower part of his body, making him moan in fear and he said, "You're not supposed to do this."

"But I can...and I will, whether you like it or not." she said, in a cold, sensual tone.

Max whimpers in agonizing pain and said, "I'd perfer not."

She didn't care what Max said and she digged her paw under his pants, attempting to rub him and then she went ahead and tried to kiss him in the mouth and all Max could do is just whimper in the slightest fear possible. He closed his eyes and secretly tried to use his claw to free himself off of the ropes and set himself one hand already free, he successfully cut the other rope, making his other hand loose.

His mom looked up and she saw that he immediately freed himself and she asked, "What are you doing?"

Max looked severly ticked and said in a cold tone, "Enough is enough."

He went in and cut the ropes off of his legs, making him free, which puts his mom in serious overdrive. She let out an angry growl and asked, "You dare reject me?"

"Mothers aren't supposed to do this kind of things to their children!" Max shouted.

"Don't you dare raise your voice at me! I am your mother!"

"Not anymore! Why do you molest me?"

She knew this would happen and she took a deep breath and told him, "When I was 16, my boyfriend-your birth father-came to my house one day and he told me that he was not able to go back to prison because he was on the run somewhere in Eastern China. He would often sleep with me some nights and he was much older than me. Like 5 years older. My parents' friend went in and did the same thing to me when I was five years old. He went in and tried to touch my entire body and took advantage of my trust. That's what it felt like to me. One day after that, I promised myself I would never do this to my children, but I couldn't get that image out of my head and that if I were to suffer through this, that same person would feel the same pain that I've been in. But that's not important. My boyfriend took me in my parents' room and I didn't care if I was too young for it. So we made love with each other and it felt really good because I wanted that life so bad I could almost taste it. Lo and behold, here I gave birth to 14 kittens. When I look at you, I think of my boyfriend and my father's family friend that molested me and the main reason why I do it to you is that you can feel the same pain that I went through and I didn't care if you were too young to go through something like that! And everytime I think and look at you, I see their faces!"

She broke down crying and continued on saying, "Your birth dad-we would get into fights that turned violent and it's because of you and your siblings! I'm glad that I molested you and left you behind, otherwise I would've done something worse!"

Max felt shocked to know that the same thing happened to her would emulate into what she's doing to him and he asked, "That makes you a pervert."

She landed a punch on his face and fell down on the floor and she shouted, "Don't you EVER call me that name again!"

Max gets up with a black eye and a bloody nose and he became really angry at her for doing what she did to him for years and he shouted, "That's your problem! You're doing the same thing to me than what someone did to you years ago!"

"Well, I can't help it! I want you."

His mother came close to him and Max backed away from her and she puts her hands on him, throws him to the bed and she said, "Let's really make out."

She leans in to unbutton her vest and Max knew that he could handle this no more and as soon as she planned to take her vest off, he walks away from her and she said, "Get back here right now!"

Max looked inevitably ticked off, turned to her and told her in an angry tone, "Never."

His mother's eyes were twitching and then, she asked, "Did you...just say...no?"

"That's right. You never treated me really well." Max answered, in a cold tone.

"Don't you know I did everything for you?"

"What have you done for me lately? Besides making my life miserable for 5 years because of what you did? I'm done being your son! I'm living my new life right now with people who care for me and wanted me to have a better life...and you can't be a part of it!"

He walks away from her and his mother buttoned herself up, looked very furious and asked, "You want me to be the bad girl? Fine, now I'm the bad girl."

As Max finds a way out of there, he sees two swords landing him, only hitting the wall. He turned around and he sees his mother with a mace on her hand and she wanted to harm him. Max immediately started running as fast as he could and his mother was chasing after him in every move he could make.

"You'll pay for your insolence!" his mother shouted.

"Well, at least I'm doing the right thing!" Max added.

He goes one way in the cave while his mom looks for him in another. She was unaware that Max was hiding from her in another cave-in entrance and when she walked far away from there, he kept running and to his surprise, he sees someone coming in, thinking that it might be his mother and then...

"Are you Max?"

He looked up and sees that it's only a croc coming in and Max shakily replied, "Yeah."

The croc puts his hand on Max's shoulder and said, in a soft tone, "I'm Ji. I've been a prisoner in your mother's clutches for years."

"How many?"

"6."

Max was surprised at how this croc would put up with her and he sees the scars all over his body and asked, "How'd you get those?"

"From your mother. She would use the whip on me, thinking that I might 'embrace pain and pleasure'. The first part I don't embrace at all."

Max pants heavily and he didn't know that Ji heard about him and he asked, "How'd you know all about me?"

"Your mother talks about you often and from her mean demeanor, I can see why you're afraid of her."

He dusts himself off and Max told him, "I need to get out of here."

"So do all of us. We're like her little whims. Everything she commands us is just too overbearing. I'll help you find a way out of here."

"Oh, really?"

They both turned around and see Max's mother standing there and she seemed crazy-angry. Max whimpered softly and asked, "What do we do, Ji?"

"We run!" he said, in fear.

Max got on Ji's back and made a run for it and the chasing begins again. They both panted furiously and as soon as they were almost there, they see a hole, which has a deep fall below there.

"No place to go, huh?"

Max's mother comes in with the mace and Ji felt like he had no choice but to jump through it, hoping both of them will still run and when they jumped up, they made it to the other side, adding to their relief and to her frustration.

They continued running and they got out of the cave and Max looked behind to see if she's still behind them and the coast became clear.

"Is she coming?" Ji asked, panting.

Max panted heavily and said, "I think we lost her."

"Oh good, because I can't put up with this chick any longer!"

"What? You dare to leave me behind?" his mother yelled, came out with a dagger and the mace.

Max shuddered in fear and she was about to kill them both. They huddled each other and as soon as she's about to slay them, a growl came out of nowhere and she got pummeled down in a matter of seconds.

Max looked up and sees that it was Arizona coming in to the rescue. He gasped and exclaimed, "Arizona!"

Arizona turned to Max and said, "Go! Get out of here!"

Both Max and Ji ran for their lives as Arizona begins to fight her and she pushes him off the side, which made him land on a wall and hit the ground. She panted furiously as Arizona stood up and she told him, "Why did you come here?"

"Because I knew you had something to do with this!" Arizona shouted.

"Why do you keep defending my son?"

Arizona snarls at her with eyes combining rage and hate and yells, "You're not even fit to be a mother!"

She growls at him and he growled back and she told him, "Get this straight, wolfie. If I can't have Max, he'll never live to see tomorrow!"

"Maybe it's better for him than seeing your ugly sex obssessed mug!"

She gasped in anger and shock and said, "How dare you?"

"I dare because when something's wrong, it's freakin' wrong!"

Max and Ji were running out of the cave and then, Max was suddenly yanked out of Ji's back, thinking it might be her. Max felt like he was about to fight, but he soon discovered that it's Musaki.

"You okay, cuz?" asked Musaki.

Max breathed heavily and he gave him a huge hug and started crying in his shoulders. Musaki comforted him and told him, "I'm here. I'm just glad that you're safe."

"Let go of him!"

Musaki looked up and saw a very angry Ji coming in to fight Musaki but then, Max looked up and said, "It's okay! He's with me!"

Ji looked at Musaki for a second and Musaki told him, "I'm here to rescue him. I'm his cousin."

Ji suddenly calmed himself down and sees that he's helping Max and he said, "Sorry. I thought you were another child molester."

"What makes you think that I'd do that to a little kid? That's just...nasty."

"Musaki, this is my new friend, Ji." Max said.

"I'm glad you were able to find him." Musaki said, smiling.

"Are the others here?"

"Yep."

To his surprise, they see Po, Shifu, Tigress, Crane, Viper, Mantis, Monkey, Kazuo, Shing, Ruiz and Zeke fighting some of Max's mom's comrades. Mantis gave two of the comrades some pressure points on his pincers, causing them to hit themselves, Viper used her tail to swipe their faces, Shifu used his staff to take them down with, Crane used his wings of justice to send them both flying down, Monkey used his acrobatic figures to take them down hard, Tigress used her hardcore moves to beat them up and Po used his belly to send most of them flying in the air with a mixture of his panda style.

While Kazuo used his tail to spray stink all over their faces and Shing leaped up in the air to claw them up as blood drips from their faces. Zeke and Ruiz teamed up as the comrades surrounded them and Zeke puts his elbows on Ruiz's and Zeke took them down with his feet while Ruiz spins him around and then, Zeke throws Ruiz over to beat them down and claw them all the way.

"Amazing." Ji said, in shock.

"Yep, we're a big kung-fu family." Musaki added.

Then, Yuen comes in and scratched them with their faces and beat them down hard using his entire body to slam them down harder than ever.

"How'd he learn that?" asked Max.

"No one really knows." Ji replied.

Then, as the comrades were defeated, they see Musaki with Max and they immediately went over to him and hugged him tightly. Tigress was the one to hug him and she asked, "Did she hurt you?"

"Tried to and then, she tried to put her entire body on me and tried to kill me." Max added.

"Okay, that proves it-she's a milf!" Kazuo exclaimed.

They could not believe what just came out of Kazuo's mouth and asked, "Did I say that?"

"Yes." they all exclaimed.

Kazuo covered his mouth and said, "Sorry."

"Let's not stand here and waste time. We have to find this woman!" Shifu shouted.

"Where is she anyway?" asked Yuen.

"Arizona's fighting her." Max answered.

"We oughta help him. Come on!" Monkey shouted.

Everyone followed him there and Musaki thought to himself, 'I hope Arizona knows what he's doing.'

* * *

><p>Action and drama. The comination of a story is like peanut butter and banana. Anyways, that's part one of the fight and part two...will be the last you'll see of Max's mom. Can anyone take a guess what her fate would be? Until next chapter, laterz!<p> 


	14. Last Fight!

And the big finish to the fight!

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><p>Chapter 14: Last Fight<p>

Meanwhile, Arizona continues to fight Max's bio mom and he's been bloody, bruised and scarred, but that doesn't mean he's gonna give up a fight to defend Max. He panted heavily as he spits out blood from his mouth and Max's bio mom asked, "Have you had enough?"

He growled at her and said, "I will never give up! Even if it means being dead to save Max's life, I would be grateful."

"Why do you care for him? He's nothing but a misused ragamuffin that will never amount to anything!"

Arizona stood up, panted heavily and angrily said, "That 'ragamuffin' has deserved something better than you...he's got a new family. A family has always got your back when times are tough. A family never abandons or forgets about them when they need it most. A family never hurts other family members over stupid mess and they always get through it in the end! A family will do whatever they can to make sure that they're taken care of and have a better life...but most of all...they never leave behind one thing...love. That's something you never gave him and he already has amounted to anything...while you...still keeping yourself locked away by the trauma of your past."

His mother slapped him in the face and asked, "What do you know?"

"Just because your family friend used your trust to molest you, you're gonna do Max the same way? What kind of a mother are you to let this happen?"

She fumed heavily and said, "That is personal business!"

"Not anymore!"

She scratched him in the face, leaving a scar on his muzzle and on half of his face as he fell down. He groans in pain and then, chucks her mace and then, "I'm still gonna use this baby on Max...after I finish it with you."

Arizona looks up and sees that she's gonna literally kill him and as she plans to bash him, her tail got bitten and yowls in pain and suddenly, Arizona sees that it's Max that did it. He chuckled softly and said, "That's using your head, kid."

Max quickly ran over to Arizona and hugged him tightly and he said, "You came for me."

Arizona patted him and asked, "Wherever you go, I go, right?"

Max nodded his head and said, "Right."

His mother looks at Max and she growled at him and shouted, "Stay away from him!"

Max looked at her in the eye and said, "No!"

She just could not believe what he had said to her and that made her even more angrier and she told him, "Max...I dare you to make love to me!"

"Hey, I'm 12. Mothers are not supposed to make babies with their sons." Max added.

"That's correct, Max."

Suddenly, she turned around and saw Shifu, the Five, Po, Musaki, Kazuo, Shing, Ji, Zeke, Yuen and Ruiz coming in all ready to fight her. She was shocked to see Yuen and Ji joining them and said, "Double-crossers!"

"At least we're not a couple of crash-holes!" Ji shouted.

She stared at Max and lunged at him and asked, "You're joining them? With these no-good strangers?"

Max growls at him and scratches her face off and he told her, in an angry tone, "I'd rather be their strangers than your living sex toy!"

She grabbed him by the tail and proceeded to suck it, but Max refused to let this happen and she slapped him in the face and pushed him down harder. Then, he looks at her and spits her in the face, adding more anger to her and she said, "That does it! This time, you'll die!"

She weilds her sword and tried to stab him, but she missed because he got out of the way. All of the other kung-fu warriors went in and beat her down. Po used his panda style and his belly to knock her out while Tigress scratched and punched her down harder than ever. Then, both of them spun around and kicked her in the face harder. Mantis went ahead and used his pressure points on her, making her hit herself and Monkey and Viper teamed up to take them down together with his acrobatic moves and her tail swipe.

Shifu went ahead and used his cane to take her down and she tries to fight back and she said, "It's not polite to hit a woman!"

"Quite right. But...you're not a woman! You're a dirty, horny, sleazy whore of a woman!" Shifu shouted.

Then, he swatted her in the face harder and said, "Such an impolite way to handle things...but someone's got to do it."

Crane used his wings of justice as he flapped his wings at her, making her slam down on the ground. Shing and Kazuo went ahead and took a beating on her, by slamming her down, stinking her up and bashing her head and it was Musaki, Ruiz and Zeke's turn to bring her down. Musaki used his supernatural blue-light orb blast to take her down a notch and Zeke and Ruiz did their magic again, this time both bashing her head down.

Max's mother was fed up with it and she took all of them down harder and harder, leaving them lying down in pain. Max looks ahead and sees all of them defeated by her. Ji and Yuen stepped in and Ji took her down with his tail and bashed it on her head.

"How do you like it?" Ji shouted.

Then, Yuen went in ans punched her, scratched her and flipped her several times and she beat them up harder than ever.

That made Max really ticked off and he wasn't gonna take the abuse any longer. He stepped in and said, "Nobody hurts my friends."

"Friends?" she said, laughing.

"That's right."

"You have no friends...and you never will!"

She weilds a sword to stab Max with, but he gained enough force to stop her and said, "I've been letting you make my life miserable, but not anymore! Everything you told me was a lie and everything you did to me...was painful."

"So what? I can still have you when I can have you!" she shouted.

"You don't even deserve to live!"

"Neither do you. Now stop fighting me!"

"Never! For the rest of my life, I will fight! I'll never stop trying to get away from you and I will never let you use me again!"

She went in and gave him the hardest beat down ever. She clawed, scratched, bit and knocked him down mercilessly and Arizona looked at him, feeling helpless again. And then, she throws him down and lands on a wall, hitting the ground. Arizona slowly walks to him and he feared the worst, seeing him bloody, bruised, scratched and beaten up.

"Max?" he asked, worriedly.

There was no response.

"Max?" he asked again, tearfully.

This time, tears were coming in his face, thinking that he might've died. He buried his face on his head and started crying softly. As the tears fell down, he went from sad to angry and furious within a fifteen second emotional roller-coaster period. With tears still in his eyes, Arizona stood up, looking at his mother in an angry and hateful filled look and he said, "You...BEAST!"

She started at him with a wicked look and asked, "What are you gonna do about it?"

Arizona went ahead and fought her multiple times and he kept clawing her, scratching her, biting her, pushing her and she got on top of her and beat her up as many times as he can.

She puts her hands on her and licks his face and she said, "You...will never see the light of day!"

"Oh no? Well, neither will you!"

Arizona went ahead and grabbed her dagger and proceeded to slice off her shoulder. She groans in pain as the blood came out of her and he then said, "Now who's ready for your death?"

"This was supposed to be MY fantasy, not Max's!" she shouted.

"Well, then...I guess you'll have to keep looking..."

Arizona sees Max getting up and when he sees her, Max told him, "Finish her off."

Arizona smiled at him, then looked back at her and continued, "...because Max will never give up living a full life and it's better...that you don't exist anymore."

He threw her off, went in and brutally killed her, limb from limb. After the bloodshed was over, all that was left was her remains. Arizona panted furiously and then looked at what he did and felt no remorse of this.

"You did it. You killed my mom." Max said, softly.

Arizona told him, "I did it for you."

He smiled at him and gave him a hug and said, "I thank you for it."

"Max?"

Suddenly, he hears someone calling his name and he ran over to find out who it was.

"Max?"

And it hit him...it was Mako.

"Dad!"

Mako turns around and sees a bloody and bruised Max running towards him and he runs over and Max hops to him, giving him a huge hug. Max started crying in his arms and Mako pets him softly and he asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Max replied.

Mako looked at Max to see if he's okay and sees some blood over his face and takes some rags to clean most of his wounds and said, "I heard about what happened."

Max widened his eyes and asked, "You have?"

"Yeah, the messenger from the Jade Palace told us about you being kidnapped while we were on our way home. So we came over to this cave and tried to find you. I didn't know whether if you're alive or dead, but...but that doesn't matter now. What matters is that you're okay."

"That and being held hostage."

"Is she still here? I would love to punch that chick's lights out for you!" Cody exclaimed, with extreme anger on his face.

"You won't find her because she's dead. Arizona killed her already."

Cody softened his face after Max told him the news and asked, "He did?"

Arizona came out with little splashes of blood over his clothes and he chuckled and said, "Hey, Mako."

Mako stood up and sees Arizona standing there and he got on one knee and bowed to him in respect and told him, "Thank you...for saving my son's life."

Arizona chuckled softly, despite that awkward moment and said, "You're welcome."

"I see he's been taking good care of you while we were gone, huh?" asked Tsunami, happily.

"Yeah. Him and Musaki as well."

Musaki then came out with a pink eye and scratches on his face and he sees his uncle and his cousins there and he said, "Hey, you're back."

Phoenix looked at his pink eye and scratches and asked, "Max's birth mom got you good, didn't she?"

"Big time." Musaki replied.

"Well, what's important is that you're safe." Mako added.

"Musaki, Arizona...I can't thank you guys enough for protecting Max." Cody added, tearfully.

Both of them sighed heavily and Arizona told him, "Max's is like a little brother to us and...neither of us can't see him getting hurt."

"If something happened to him, we don't know what we would do." Musaki added.

Soon enough, Po, Shifu, the Five, Kazuo, Shing, Ruiz, Zeke, Ji and Yuan came out of the cave and the others took a look and Mako then said, "Sounds like you've all been pitching in."

"Well...me and Max just met a few minutes ago." Ji added.

"Same here." Yuan called out.

"I think Max made a better fit for us during his time here, even though Musaki hid him from us last week." Shifu said.

Mako glared at Musaki for that and all Musaki did was let out a chuckle and said, "It's a long story."

He sighed heavily and then, he went ahead and gave him a hug. He then whispered to him, "I knew we could trust you, nephew."

Then, he looked at Arizona and he asked him, "Max means a lot to you, does he?"

Arizona let out a sigh and he said, "Yeah, he does."

"I'm glad."

Shifu clears his throat and he said, "Right, students. Excellent rescuing efforts."

"Thank you, master." the students responded.

All of them bowed to each other and Shifu looked at Max, Musaki and Arizona and he said to them with a smile, "Let's go home."

* * *

><p>Ding-dong, the wicked witch! Which old witch, the wicked witch! Ding-dong, the wicked witch is dead! (clears throat) Max's bio mom is dead! Now Max can live his life in peace. There's plenty more coming up.<p> 


	15. Peace is Found

Max has finally regained peace after his birth mom was killed. This will start as a heartfelt moment between Max and Arizona and it'll be an awesome chapter.

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><p>Chapter 15: Peace is Found<p>

Later that day, Max was lying on his bed in Musaki's room, wrapped in bandages and falling asleep as well. After whatever happened that day, he felt a sense of peace inside of him, knowing that his birth mom has officially been dead, he knows that no one will harm him again and all the memories of being molested will eventually leave him behind.

Not long after, Arizona quietly enters the room and he looked at Max sleeping and his heart melts for him after all he's been through and he sat down next to him, breathing quietly but sharply as he was trying to think of something to say.

He stared at the floor for a while and he closed his eyes for a minute, let out a heavy sigh, then looked back at Max and whispered, "Not how your last day here turned out to be, huh?"

He chuckled a little bit and Max was still sleeping and Arizona let out another sigh and said, "Tried to cheer you up a little. Hey, Max...I'm glad that you're okay. I mean...when I heard that your birth mom kidnapped you, I was so...angry, like I was ready to just...kill her, you know? I didn't want you to get hurt by her again and the thought of something happening to you...I just couldn't feel that feeling of helplessness again. I've watched kids like you back at Kong Wolf City when Dai Ling took over and one-by-one, kids were running around; scared, cold, lost and none of them lasted that long. I made a promise to myself that if I ever escaped from that tower, I would most gladly help out every kid as possible. Then, Musaki came into my life and...if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here right now and I wouldn't have met you. That's a lot for a friend to do something like that. You didn't deserve to be harassed and tortured by your mother and I didn't want to see you being killed because it would literally make me feel devastated. If I didn't come here in time to save you, I would never forgive myself."

Arizona paused for a second and he felt like he was gonna break down at any moment and he closed his eyes for a second, as the tears started coming out of his face. He covered his face, hoping that Max wouldn't see him cry, but he was unaware that Max was listening to the whole thing with his eyes open on the other side.

Arizona sniffled and continued saying, tearfully, "And then I'd be miserable for the rest of my freakin' life if I had let this monster hurt you. I see myself in you and I just wanted to do anything and everything I can to protect you because you're like a little brother to me. I love you, Max. I'm just...happy that you're still okay."

He patted Arizona's arm and then, he got up and walked out, but not before Max said, "You mean that?"

Arizona froze for a minute, turned slowly and sees Max sitting up at the edge of the bed and Arizona replied, "Every word. How much did you actually hear?"

Max chuckled amusedly and replied, "Every word you said."

Arizona took a deep breath as he wiped away his tears to prevent Max from seeing it, but Max already saw it anyway and Max then asked him, "Why do you mean so much to me, anyway? I'm not like...special or anything."

Arizona sat back down with him, puts his arm around his shoulder and said, "You are special to me. When you told me that you were afraid of wolves, I wanted you to see what not all wolves are dangerous and stuff. Most of us are protectors; whether it's another pack or another species. I'm not a dangerous person at all and I'm just someone that needs a friend and will do anything to protect anyone who's feeling hopeless and defend that person."

Max smiled at him and he said, "Well, I guess you're different from the others."

"But I'm still me and nothing's gonna change that." Arizona added, with a smile.

Max went in and hugged Arizona as he let out a soft purr and he hugged him back as well. For Arizona, he felt a warm spot on his heart that he cares very much for Max like his own brother.

"This is a sweet moment."

They looked up and saw Musaki standing there and both of them laughed nervously and Max asked, "You saw us, huh?"

"Just passed through. Glad you're feeling better, cuz." Musaki added.

"Me too."

He came in the room and sat down on the floor next to Arizona and Max and Max got out of the bed, went to Musaki and hugged him tightly. He then asked, "What was that for?"

Max sighs softly and added, "For being a great cousin and for letting me live my new life in peace."

That made Musaki happy as well and he hugged him back and replied, "You're welcome."

Arizona chuckled and said, "You got a good cousin, Max."

Musaki looked up at Arizona and he told him, "You make a good big brother yourself, even though he's got like hundreds of them."

Arizona laughs softly and then, he left the room; feeling happy that Max is happy and found some peace too. Musaki looked up at Max and said, "By the way, your dad told me that you'll meet your new brothers tomorrow and I'll be along with ya. In the meantime, wanna hang out?"

"Yeah, sure." Max replied.

Musaki picked up Max and put him on his back and walked out of the room and then he entered the dining room; where Po and most of the Five are sitting down as well. Max sat between Po and Tigress and as he looked at her, he smiled at her and she smiled back at him too.

"Thanks for saving me." Max added.

Tigress chuckled softly and said, "Glad we're here to save you."

"I think you guys might be mother and son." Po added.

Both tigers looked at Po and they both said, in unison, "Don't go there, Po."

"Just saying."

"Well, try not to say exactly what's on your mind." Tigress added.

She rolled her eyes in embarassment and then Max chuckled softly and asked, "How did he ever get to be the Dragon Warrior?"

"I ask myself that same question every day." she answered.

"Uh...I can hear you guys." Po added.

"Wanna hear it again?" Max said.

Mantis looked at Max with a smile on his face and said, "Max, buddy-boy, this is how we kung-fu masters live."

"I think I'm having the best experience of my life...by far."

"Ah, young Max. I see you're joining us for dinner." Shifu said, as he came in.

"Yeah. What are we having?" Max asked.

"Have you ever tasted noodles before, Maxie boy?" Po asked.

"Um...sorta." he replied, with a chuckle.

Po laughs heartily after that and he said, "Once you try it, your taste buds will go nuts. Won't that be awesome?"

"If you say so."

Po gives Max a bowl of noodles and he wasn't sure what to make of it, but as soon as he tried it out, he completely felt the taste was completely cool, like nothing he ever tasted before. He said, "Now that's awesome."

"Yeah! I knew you'd like it!" Po shouted, with glee.

Max chuckled softly as he kept eating the noodles and Crane looked at him and said, "Max, we are really honored to have you here."

"The pleasure's all mine." Max added.

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><p>One more chapter left on this one!<p> 


	16. New Life in Peace

And how do we wrap this up? Max's happily ever after!

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><p>Chapter 16: New Life in Peace<p>

The next day, Max was hanging with Arizona doing some tai chi movements to feel inner peace inside of them and it seems as though Max really is getting the hang of it after everything that he's been through in the past week and a half. Suddenly, visions of being with his new family were playing in his head and there was laughing and just a sheer full of happiness entered inside of there.

Arizona looked at Max and sees that he is indeed at peace after his bio mom is dead. He smiled at him and kept going and ends with bowing to each other as they faced themselves. Max opened his eyes and let out a small chuckle and said, "You're a great teacher."

Arizona patted Max's head and chuckled too and he also said, "You learn very fast."

It was silent for a while and Arizona let out a heavy sigh, scratched his head and said, "Can't believe that this is your last day here."

"Me neither. It's like...it just came by so fast and I was very timid when I first came in here due to the horrifying memories of my mom."

"Mm-hmm."

"But now...everything's different. I feel safe now and I can live my new life in peace."

"Yeah. Hey, Max? I really enjoyed hanging out with you."

Max turns around, smiles at Arizona and said, "So do I."

He then went in and gave Arizona a hug and a small purr was let out. Arizona hugged him back as well and in his mind, he knows that he makes a great big brother to him and a protector as well. He looks at Max and asked, "Can you promise me something?"

"Sure."

"Let go of all the memories of what happened in the past and when you're around your new family, everything will turn out right for you and just keep yourself in the right direction and embrace it."

Max nodded his head and said, "I will."

Arizona lets out his paw and Max gave him a high-five and they laughed as well. All of a sudden, Musaki came in the room and he said, "Hey, Max. How's it going?"

"Pretty good." Max said, smiling.

"Your dad said me and Arizona can take ya home." Musaki added.

Both Arizona and Max let out a little whine and Arizona asked, "Does he have to go?"

"Yeah."

"I wish you could stay a little while longer."

"Me too."

Musaki could see the attachment that they have for each other and he seemed happy that Arizona is like a big brother to him and he said, "You guys are like best friends, aren't you?"

"Yeah, we are."

"All right, let's go."

As Max and Arizona walked out of the training hall, they saw the other kung-fu masters, Zeke, Shing, Kazuo and Ruiz coming in to say goodbye to him. Max chuckled and said, "I live like 10 minutes from here and it's not gonna be hard to find your palace."

"I understand that. I want you to know that it has been a pleasure having you here, Max." Shifu said, happily.

"Same here."

"Take care of yourself and if you ever need anything, you know where to find us."

"I will."

Viper comes in, gives him a kiss on the cheek and said, "You're so adorable!"

Max chuckled softly and said, "I have been told that while I was at the orphanage."

Mantis and Monkey came towards him and Mantis hopped on his shoulder and told him, "You've got a lot of stuff, kid."

"Thanks, Mantis." Max answered, with a smile.

Then, Monkey came towards him and just gave him a huge hug and said, "I don't want you to go! You're the first one that has ever looked up to me!"

"Uh, you do realize that everyone looks up to you?" Mantis asked.

"You know what I mean."

Max chuckled softly and said, "I'm not that far from you guys. I'll come visit."

"Please do."

Crane came next and puts his wing about his shoulder and said, "Let's hope things work out for you, buddy."

Max smiled at Crane and said, "Same here."

Tigress was next in line and she showed plenty of emotion when she was around Max and she let out a smile and just gave him a hug. Max didn't know what to say or do after that, but Tigress told him, "I see you as a peaceful warrior. I want you to live a very happy life and always stay that way."

"I will."

Kazuo, Shing, Zeke and Ruiz came forward to form a group hug with Max and they just embraced each other like never before. Max said, "I'll miss you guys too."

Finally, Po comes forward and just gives him a hug hug, which results in almost crushing him and him being choked. Max tries to cough up for air but Po said, "Don't leave us, little buddy! We need you!"

"Po...choking me..." Max said, choking.

Po released him, leaving Max coughing and gasping for air and he quickly said, "Sorry. Couldn't help myself."

Musaki and Arizona went in front of him and Musaki said, with a chuckle, "Don't worry. He's big with hugs...when he squishes us."

"We'll be back in a while." Arizona said.

Everyone said their goodbyes to him as they went down the steps and Shifu looked kinda pleased with his time there and he said, "Someday...Max will go great things. I can see it now."

Later on, they made it to Mako's home and Musaki knocked his door and suddenly, Cody answers the door and sees Musaki, Arizona and Max there too. He immediately said, "Hey, buddy. How ya been?"

Cody gives Max a hug and Max responded, "Doing okay."

He looks up at Musaki and Arizona and asked, "Has he been giving you any trouble?"

"No troubles at all, Codes." Musaki said, happily.

"He's been awesome here." Arizona added.

"Listen, I seriously wanna thank you guys for looking out for him. After yesterday, I somehow think that you guys are trustworthy of looking out for Max and Arizona...you managed to look out for him as a big sibling replacement. Musaki...I knew we could count on you to keep him safe from harm with that monster chick of a mother."

"Hey, what's family for?" Musaki asked, happily.

"Anyways, see you guys around." Cody said, smiling.

"You too. Take care, Max."

"I will." Max said, happily.

Musaki and Arizona said their byes to Max and after they left, Cody went with him to introduce him to their new brothers. As they got to the living room, he saw two new ones-a croc, 18, male, green eyes, 5'9, 199 pounds, with a bar on his lip, tattoo of a dragon on his left shoulder, wearing only dark shorts-and a tiger, 17, 5'4, 177 pounds, blue and black striped fur, orange eyes, wearing white pants and a red T-shirt, with a stripe on his eye-just sitting there, looking at Max and the croc asked, "This our new brother?"

"Yep. Guys, this is Max." Cody said.

Max seemed a little shy about meeting them and he said, "Hi."

The tiger recognized his shyness and he said, "Hey, don't be afraid. I'm Gabe."

Gabe lets out his paw and Max slowly reached his hand to give him a handshake and once he shook it, he seemed a little comfortable with him. Gabe chuckled softly and said, "Never though I'd find someone my own kind."

"Me neither." Max said, smiling.

"Hey, little guy. I'm Marcus." the croc answered.

Max went over to Marcus and instead of a handshake, Marcus gave him a huge hug too and he said, "We heard about yesterday. I'm hoping that you'll find peace with us."

"So do I."

Max looked up at them and Cody and he knew right from the start that his new life will come in full form. Cody then asked, "So, Max...how do you like your new life?"

Max let out a smile and said, "I hope it stays like this."

"It will."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

><p>That's a wrap! Well, almost. Thank you guys for loving this fic from the start. And for that, I decided to throw in a bonus chapter. I'll post the bonus one pretty soon!<p>

Also, I'm gonna post a new fic on Arizona soon and he's trying to adjust a new life in the Jade palace after Musaki takes him out of the clutches of Dai Ling. Images of his past life with Dai Lung haunts him and he's struggling to move on. Can't think of a title so I might need you guys to help me out and I'll use them as soon as I can. You can suggest one by reviewing or sending me a message. Bonus chapter is coming up! Happy Halloween!


	17. Bonus Chapter

And to wrap it up: someone's having a birthday and that someone is...ARIZONA! Arizona is turning 17 in this chapter, so what better way to end the fic than celebrating Arizona's 17th birthday.

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><p>Bonus Chapter: Arizona Turns 17!<p>

A month has passed by after everything that happened and one morning, Arizona woke up early this morning, lets out a yawn, scratches his back and stretched himself a little bit.

Suddenly, Ruiz looks at Arizona and he said, "Happy birthday, Zona."

Arizona looks up at Ruiz and he discovers that today is his birthday. He chuckled and said, "Thanks."

"So...you doing anything special?"

"Um...I don't know. I've never had an actual birthday because Dai Ling made me miserable for so long on that day." Arizona explained.

"Oh. Well, you think everything will be different this time?"

Arizona wasn't quite sure about that question and then, he only responded, "I hope it's different."

Ruiz yawns a little and he asked, "So how old are you now?"

"I'm...17."

Ruiz seemed surprised about that age and then, he told him, "You're almost like...an adult."

"Am I? I don't feel like one."

Arizona was still puzzled by how being 17 feels and then, he went out for a second to see what's it like. Luckily for him, he went to the Sacred Hall of Warriors and he saw Shifu meditating near the Moon Pool and he was a little nervous about asking him something.

Shifu could hear his footsteps coming in and he said, "Arizona, what brings you here early this morning?"

Arizona couldn't believe that Shifu knows that he's here. He cleared his throat and said, "I came to ask you something."

Shifu chuckled and said, "My ears are open."

"Um...today's my birthday and-"

"Oh, is it? Happy birthday." Shifu said, with a smile.

"Thanks. And I'm 17. So...I just wanna know...how does being 17 feel like?"

Shifu turned to him, went to Arizona and said, "Well, it's not hard to explain, but being 17 means that you're making a transitional period in your life where you're almost breaking out of being a kid and into adulthood. As you grow up, you'll become much wiser and much more stronger than ever. And when you're 18, you're officially almost an adult."

Arizona pondered his thoughts on that one and he still didn't know what it might feel like and he asked, "Is it...bad?"

"No. It's a good feeling too. You may face some challenges in your life, but you have to stay strong and overcome those. And you're one of the strongest ones that I've ever known. Just enjoy it while it lasts."

Arizona nodded his head and he said, "I guess you're right. I should enjoy it, though. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Oh, by the way, the entire students are taking the day off."

Arizona seemed surprised by that and he felt as if now he should catch up with his sleep for a while and he said, "Okay. Thanks."

He felt as if it was a great way to start off his birthday and when he went back to the room, he went back to his bed and took a little rest. Ruiz was looking at him and asked, "Why are you sleeping again?"

Arizona opened only one eye and responded, "Our day off."

Ruiz seemed surprised, but really relieved when he heard those words. He laid back down and said, "Sounds like music to my ears."

As the day went on, Po, Shifu, the Five, Kazuo, Shing, Ruiz, Zeke and Musaki got themselves to make plans for Arizona's 17th birthday party and Max sees Musaki walking past him by his house and he said, "Hey, cuz. What are you doing?"

Musaki stopped for a sec and stopped by to talk to Max and he said, "Getting ready for Arizona's 17th birthday."

Suddenly, Max wanted in on the idea. He lit up his eyes and after everything that has happened to him earlier, he decided to do something nice for Arizona because he felt like he wanted to pay it forward to be his protector and he said, "Can I help?"

Musaki looked at him and asked, "Why would you wanna help?"

"Because after he defeated my mom, I'm living in peace with my new life. And I kinda want do something nice for my wolf brother just to say 'thank you' and to tell him that I can do the same thing."

Musaki smiled at Max for doing something nice for Arizona and he wanted the extra help to make his birthday look awesome. He said, "That's an awesome idea."

Later on, Max and Musaki went forward to the stores to get Arizona a few gifts while the others were busy decorating and prepping food for the party.

That afternoon, they went into Mr. Ping's Noodle Shop and set up the decorations there and Musaki came back with a few gifts for Arizona and Shifu completely wanted something that will make it a day to remember.

Max sees Shifu getting a little anxious and he asked, "Why's Shifu so nervous?"

Musaki sighed and rolled his eyes and said, "When an event's happening, Shifu is a huge perfectionist, like everything has to be just right for anything; especially with birthdays."

"So...have you got the decorations set up?" asked Shifu.

"All set up, master." Viper said.

"The food's ready?"

"All here." Po answered.

"Gifts?"

"Plenty." Musaki added.

"Shifu, just relax. It's only a birthday party." Ruiz added.

"This is not just a birthday party. This is Arizona's 17th! We need something to make sure he remembers it!" Shifu exclaimed.

"Shifu, if I may interject something-" Po began, but Shifu cut him off with only a yank of his finger, causing Po to yell out in pain.

"Interject nothing, panda!" Shifu shouted.

Po backed away for a while and said, "Okay. I know when to shut up."

Hours gone by and the decorations are piling up and everything looks well-put together for the party. Musaki looked at it and said, "Now that will be a party to remember."

"Okay, so...all that's missing is the birthday wolf." Po said.

"I'll get him."

Musaki walks off to bring Arizona in for the party, but wants to keep it a surprise. As he walked through the steps of the palace, he sees Arizona sitting on the Sacred peach Tree, looking over the villages. Musaki smiled and he walked up behind him and said, "Awesome sight, huh?"

Arizona turns around and sees Musaki there and he let out a smile and said, "It's even cooler when the sun goes down."

"Yeah. So...what are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing, I think."

"Cool, because we're having a little part at Mr. Ping's noodle shop. I think it'd be awesome if you came with."

Arizona was curious to know about this party and he asked, "What kind of party is it?"

"You'll find out when we get there." Musaki said, with a mischievous smile.

5 minutes later...

They made it to the noodle shop and most of it was dark and Arizona didn't know what was going on. He walks over and said, "Anyone here?"

All of a sudden, lights come in and...

"SURPRISE!"

Confetti and streamers fly out and Arizona looked completely shocked and amazed about what's happening and then, Max went in and said, "Happy birthday, Arizona!"

"What he said." Cody exclaimed.

Then, to Arizona's bewilderment, the party Musaki mentioned was his own birthday, which left him completely speechless. He chuckled and said, "I just...don't know what to say. You did all this for me?"

"Well, we know every year that your birthday would always be miserable and with you being 17 and all, we decided to change that and give it the best birthday you never had before." Viper explained.

Arizona started smiling and he said, "You guys..."

"Hey, you make an awesome fit as one of us." Tigress added.

"You're part of our family now." Crane also said.

"Plus, Max decided to make it extra special because I know you guys are like brothers a lot and he told me he wants to say 'thank you' for being his protector for his birth mom." Musaki said.

Arizona looked at Max as he was smiling and Max went on to say, "I almost thought that you were one of the wolves who would hurt me when we first met, but I know that you're a nice person and I've never met anyone outside of my adopted family willing to risk his life to keep me safe and I thank you for that."

Arizona hugged him tightly and he said, "Thanks, Max. You mean the world to me...as the rest of you guys. Now I know my 17th birthday can be extra special."

Just then, Mr. Ping and Po came in with the cake and they all sung 'happy birthday' to Arizona and Monkey told him, "Make a wish."

Arizona closed his eyes and thought up of one and seconds later, he blew out all the candles and everyone cheered and applauded for him.

"So, what did ya wish for?" asked Max.

Arizona was still speechless, but when he looked at everyone, he felt as if his heart was warming up too since his life has changed for the better. He then said, "My wish...was always to celebrate my birthday with the people I cared about. Up until now, my life was filled with misery and gloom because of Dai Ling and I always spent my birthday in loneliness...until this Musaki guy came into my life and completely got me out of the darkness and stepped into a huge light. I could never thank him enough for helping me out and you guys too. This is the highlight of the best day of my life by far and I'll treasure this for the rest of my life."

Everyone cheered for Arizona and Po said, "Let's eat!"

They all went around and had cake and everything else and throughout all of it, Arizona seemed like he was in his happiest place for the first time in his life.

After the party, Max went in and told him, "So how does it feel to be 17 now?"

"After the party, I think I'm enjoying it now." Arizona answered, happily.

Suddenly, Musaki came in and said, "Here's the birthday wolf. How'd you enjoy yourself?"

"This is the birthday I never had before and the fact that you guys did all this for me...I've never felt happier than I've ever been. It just made me feel appreciated for some reason."

Musaki puts his hand on Arizona's shoulder and said, "It's only the beginning of your journey."

Arizona looks at Musaki and Max and he gives both of them a hug and Max told him, "Happy birthday, Arizona."

"Thanks, buddy."

* * *

><p>And with that, I dub this fic COMPLETE! Thank you to those who reviewed this fic; Spade-Omega 7, seylenagomez, Nightfuryx, Yin Yang 2000 and Master Cheesecake. More KFP fics heading your way! Until then, AniUniverse '05 out. That's my new nickname. You like?<p> 


	18. Max is Discovered!: The Extended Scene

Since you guys has given me massive support of 'A Tiger Cub's Horrifying Secret', I decided to make an extended version of how Max met Tigress. It's something I should've added in and I thought up of this on Thanksgiving weekend. So I hope you like this one.

* * *

><p>Max is Discovered: The Extended Version<p>

Max was tiptoeing his way through the hallways of the barracks to get to the kitchen to get a snack, hoping that no one will catch him in the middle of the night. It was very dark and he could barely see where he was going, which made him a little worried that someone will catch him eventually.

He finally got to the kitchen and he looks around to see if there's anything that he can have to cure his midnight munchies craving. He looks throughout the entire kitchen to find something and he looks at the top of the cupboards and sees a cookie jar standing there.

"Cookies..." Max said, happily.

Without warning, he hops up on the cupboards, letting out strained grunts to get to the top and when he actually got up there, he takes a deep breath and sits down and picks up the cookie jar and sees an entire jarfull of almond cookies. He's never tried or heard of those things before, but his stomach growling could tell him that to take the risk.

He sighed heavily and he ate the first almond cookie and his taste buds completely went overdrive and he ate a few pieces of it and within 2 minutes, he felt like having at least four pieces is good enough for him and he sets the jar down.

He looks down on the ground and sees that he's high up on the ground and he takes a deep breath and tries to climb down, but one look down almost made him lose his balance and he tries to grab onto the shelves with his paws, but he couldn't hold on any longer and he falls down on the ground, hard.

Max groans in pain, rubbing his back and he stands up on the ground to get back to Musaki's room, but he suddenly heard someone 's footsteps and he was panicking to know that he's gonna be caught and be in big trouble. He quickly hid under the table and just quickly hung himself to the bottom of the table with his claws on the edges and when he sticks his head down, the sight of orange feet intensified the fear for Max because he knows that it's Tigress.

He starts panting silently and sweating away, fearing that she's gonna bring harm to him. After that, he lets himself go and lands a small thud on the ground, which made Tigress let out a low growl and exclaimed, "Show yourself!"

Max silently got out under the table and he tried to not give himself away and while Tigress searches for the person, he quickly hid in another pantry and wit the door closed, Max definitely was shaking in fear and he takes a small look to see what Tigress is doing and he's waiting for her to leave and he backs away slowly and starts panting heavily, hoping that she won't hear him.

Tigress let out a fierce growl and that scared Max to a maximum and all of a sudden, he lets out a sneeze and he realized that Tigress might hear him and he tried to lay low for a minute.

Unfortunately for him, Tigress did hear a sneeze and she quickly went to the pantry where he's hiding and she burst the doors open and she sees his tail behind a few of the cans and she yanks it, which caused Max to let out a yowl and scratched her face again.

He got out of there, but Tigress looks up and sees a very frightened Max standing there and she growled at him and asked, "Who are you?"

Max was too afraid to speak to her because she looked very angry and she wasn't about to wait around and she told him in an angry tone, "Speak...now."

Max backed away from her and he said, "Get away from me."

Tigress went to him, but Max refused to let her get anywhere near him and when she reached to him, he immediately ran away from her and Tigress quickly blocked his way and he kicked her in the stomach and that made her really angry and she almost swung at him before he dodged her attacks and he got on the table and he said, "Please get away from me."

"Tell me who you are now!" Tigress screamed, slamming her fist on the table.

Max stood there, watching Tigress get even more angrier at any given moment and he said, "Just leave me alone."

Tigress gave him a death glare and he started whimpering in fear and she asked him, "I'm not gonna ask you again otherwise you don't wanna deal with me. Are you gonna tell me your name or aren't you?"

Tigress got more angrier and felt like she was gonna lose it, making him scream louder and louder and louder until it intensifies to the point where anyone can hear him and he screamed, "Let me go!"

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" Tigress screamed.

"MAX!"

Max looks up and he sees a very shocked and appalled Musaki coming in seeing him being caught by Tigress and he asked, "What is going on here?"

Tigress turned to Musaki and Max was crying softly and he turned to him and he told her, "Leave him alone."

Tigress looked at him and she sees that he's crying and she just let him go out of his way, but she was still mad at the fact that she didn't know that Max was here and Musaki came to him and he hugged him tightly and suddenly, the other kung-fu warriors popped out of nowhere, making Max more scared than ever and Viper asked, "What's going on?"

Musaki didn't know what to say and all eyes were turning to him and suddenly, Max pops out from behind and he said, "Don't get Musaki in trouble. He was trying to protect me."

Tigress snarled at him and she said, "We don't need to hear another word out of you."

Viper slithered over to him and Max tried to stay away, but she looked at him with sympathy and asked, "Are you okay, sweetie?"

She reached her neck to him for a hug and he started purring softly and Viper said, "He's cute."

"Musaki, where'd you get him?" asked Monkey.

Musaki sighed heavily and he said, "Well...this is my cousin...Max. I've had him here for four days."

All of the kung-fu masters couldn't believe what they were hearing and exclaimed, "4 days?"

That made Tigress furious to know that Musaki was hiding him for 4 days and angrily confronted them and asked, "I demand to know why you kept him for 4 days?"

"Because...he's kinda scared of you." Musaki replied.

Monkey was curious to know about this and he asked, "Why is he scared of Tigress?"

Musaki didn't want to tell them this because it might make her more mad and he told him, "He's the one that actually scratched her, bit her tail and kicked her from behind."

Tigress turned to Max and he swallowed nervously and Tigress was fuming to know that a kid would do that and she asked, "It was you?"

"Uh-huh."

To know that it was him and Musaki knew about it and didn't tell her made her feel extremely angry and she took it out on Musaki and asked, "You kept this a secret from me and didn't even tell me?"

"What was I supposed to do? I tried to tell Max that he would tell you himself, but he was too scared because you might kill him."

She was taken aback by that comment and when she looked at Max, she was seething mad and she went to one side of the kitchen and started throwing things at him and Max, which made them both scared and the other masters shocked.

Max tries to run away, but Tigress blocked him out of the way and she told him, "You think you're gonna hide from us?"

"He's only a kid, Tigress." Po added.

"I don't care!" Tigress screamed in anger.

Musaki went in front of him and quickly defended him and said, "You can be mad at me for all I care, but I don't want you to hurt my cousin."

Tigress gave him a death glare and pounds her fist on Max and screamed, "We don't know anything about him!"

"Because you're not giving him a chance!" Musaki yelled, getting in her face.

Tigress shoved him out of the way and aims her anger at Max and she sees the others trying to stop Tigress from fighting him, but she didn't care and she quickly went and got into his face, screaming maniacally at him, but she was stopped because someone grabbed her tail, only to find that it's Shifu.

Shifu looked at her with shock and he asked, angrily, "What are you doing?"

Max started crying and that caught Shifu's attention and he stood there in shock, knowing that Tigress took down a young cub and he asked, "Did you scare that child?"

Musaki got to him and he sees Max lying there on the ground and he asked, "You okay?"

Max whimpers in fear and replied, tearfully, "No..."

Musaki was mad at Tigress for coming down on him for no reason and he asked, "How cruel can you be for scaring my cousin?"

Shifu stared at Musaki and he asked, "That's your cousin?"

"Yes. This is Max. He's been here for 4 days."

Shifu knew that he was hiding something from the others and he asked, "Why didn't you introduce him to us?"

"Well...he was kinda scared to because he kinda scratched Tigress' face the first time he came here." Musaki answered.

Shifu was silent for a minute and then Max stared at Shifu and he asked in a timid voice, "You're not gonna hurt me, are you?"

Shifu patted his head and he said, "No. I will not hurt you."

"What I want to know is where did he come from." Tigress asked, in a cold manner.

Max and Musaki explained everything to them and after that, all of them except for Tigress, shared Max's sympathy and Po told him, "You're safe here with us, buddy."

"I'm just worried that...she might come for me again and hurt me." Max said.

"Well, she'll have to get through us if that ever happens." Monkey said.

"And do not worry Max. You can stay here as long as you like and my students will treat you like family, but rest assured, I'll treat you the same way as my students as you participate in kung-fu training." Shifu explained.

"Yes, sir." Max added.

"It's a good thing that Musaki is your cousin too."

Tigress stared at Max and she scoffed at him as she gets up and walks out of the room but not before she tells him, "You don't belong here already and don't think I'll forget about what you did with me because I won't forgive you that easily."

Max definitely felt like this was gonna be a challenge for him and Musaki turned to him and he said, "Don't worry. She'll get over it."

"I think she'll stay mad at me forever." Max added.

"If I know Tigress, she'll probably feel bad about what she did and maybe she'll apologize for it." Po assured him.

That made Max feel more sad than ever and he walks back to his room and Musaki felt really sorry for him and he followed him from behind and he told him, "Hey, she will apologize to you. But maybe you should apologize to her first. I'm sure that she'll accept it."

"You promise?" asked Max.

"I promise. Let's go back to bed."

* * *

><p>Well this is pretty much all I came up with. So I hope this extended scene is suitable to your liking.<p> 


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